Bullfrog
13th July 2010, 08:02 AM
click to see more (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128462416&ft=1&f=1001)
The financial calamity of the European Union's sovereign debt woes has shaken the pillars of the postwar ideal of a united Europe. The debt crisis and the global downturn have left many European countries looking inward these days and viewing Brussels as increasingly irrelevant.
Gelleri, a high school teacher who established the chiemgauer, is proud that more than 600 regional businesses — from drugstores to architects — now accept the microcurrency.
"The chiemgauer is connected to the region. You can't speculate with it, you can't buy stocks or options or shares with it," he says.
another related article (http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,469875,00.html)
Annika Pietsch, who had been up until then just an employee in Jansky's office, became the director of the new central bank -- which takes the form of a small blue cash box she carries around with her. She prints the bills, which feature an ocher-colored map of Saxony-Anhalt, in her apartment. They can't be counterfeited, she says -- she's tried it herself to be sure.
Pietsch exchanges the euros the locals bring her for Urstromtaler and grants members Urstromtaler credits. Her job as a one-woman central bank is also remunerated in Urstromtaler, which she can use as tender when purchasing goods and services from any of the association's 165 members.
The financial calamity of the European Union's sovereign debt woes has shaken the pillars of the postwar ideal of a united Europe. The debt crisis and the global downturn have left many European countries looking inward these days and viewing Brussels as increasingly irrelevant.
Gelleri, a high school teacher who established the chiemgauer, is proud that more than 600 regional businesses — from drugstores to architects — now accept the microcurrency.
"The chiemgauer is connected to the region. You can't speculate with it, you can't buy stocks or options or shares with it," he says.
another related article (http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,469875,00.html)
Annika Pietsch, who had been up until then just an employee in Jansky's office, became the director of the new central bank -- which takes the form of a small blue cash box she carries around with her. She prints the bills, which feature an ocher-colored map of Saxony-Anhalt, in her apartment. They can't be counterfeited, she says -- she's tried it herself to be sure.
Pietsch exchanges the euros the locals bring her for Urstromtaler and grants members Urstromtaler credits. Her job as a one-woman central bank is also remunerated in Urstromtaler, which she can use as tender when purchasing goods and services from any of the association's 165 members.