The "No FRN Project"

[margomaps]

For the aspiring freedom blogger/videographer in NH, this could be a fun and interesting project:

During a specified amount of time (1 or 2 months perhaps, but the longer the better), don't deal in gov't-issued currencies*.  Obtain all your food, housing, fuel, and anything else you need or want, only by trading your labor or bartering your property, including silver, gold, or other non-fiat bullion.

Document your experiences (preferably on a daily/weekly blog or video blog), showing how it is possible -- though in all probability quite difficult -- to live a hard-money-life in a fiat-world.  Show how being a part of NH's community of liberty activists enables this: FSPers accepting payment for various things in silver, or providing food and/or shelter in exchange for labor, for example.

I think this experiment would be enlightening not only for the person doing it and the liberty folk helping him out, but also for anyone following the progress from outside of NH.  I'm sure there are some potential FSPers out there who would take heart in seeing an example of how voluntary association can be used live outside th...er, I mean, to participate in non-fiat market-based economies.   

There are probably already a handful of FSPers who are living this way, or at least close to it.  But documenting it as an intentional project could be pretty cool.

Any thoughts and/or volunteers?

*=if someone wanted to use their stash of Silver Eagles or other gov't minted precious metals, I think that would be OK, since the value of these are determined by market forces and not by fiat

[dalebert]

We may need to build up our local gray economy a bit before that would really go off well but I like the idea a lot.

[margomaps]

We may need to build up our local gray economy a bit before that would really go off well but I like the idea a lot.

Thanks Dale!

I agree, this would be a lot easier to do after we have even more people up here with a broader array of goods and services to offer in exchange for labor or property.   Once we have that, this idea can move from being "short-term experiment by one person" to "way of life for many people".

To make it work right now for an individual, the project might require a bit of planning beforehand.  A scouting mission to identify a few stores that will accept silver at market value instead of FRNs.  Agreements with a handful of willing porcs to provide transportation, lodging, and food in exchange for labor and/or silver.  Finding a porc or two who would be willing to pay silver for odd jobs.  But I think it is possible even now.  Others would know better  than I do, but didn't some of Ron's guests last year at Little Minnesota work odd jobs in exchange for housing and food?

What would really add a lot of excitement to this idea is if it coincided with the introduction of Shire Silver.  I'd hate for it to have to wait around that long though.      

[Kat Kanning]

The way Ridley lives, he could do this.

[margomaps]

The way Ridley lives, he could do this.

He was the first person who popped into my head when I started considering who's lifestyle is already amenable to this project. 

I know some of his sponsors for his Ridleos are FSPers or porc-friendly businesses, so he could probably get paid in silver from some of them if he asked.  If he doesn't happen to see this thread, and if he happens to be at Murphy's tonight, could someone mention the idea to him for me?

[John Edward Mercier]

Virtual FRNs isn't that what my MasterCard and personal check are?

[margomaps]

I'm not sure if I would call those things virtual FRNs as much as promises to pay hard FRNs.

Marvelous.  Please split into another topic if you guys want to discuss this further. 

Back to my thread, does anybody know the best way to contact Dave Ridley?

[Kat Kanning]

PM him.

[margomaps]

Sadly, Dave's too busy right now.  I'm not too surprised though -- it's clear from his Ridley Reports that he's involved in a lot of things at once.  Maybe if I offered him 1 oz. silver for the first week he does it, 2 oz. the second week, and so on.  For those who don't feel like finding the equation for this series, it's n*(n+1)/2 ounces of silver, where 'n' is the number of weeks.   

Oh well.  Perhaps another hard-money advocate will see this thread and be inspired to try out the idea.  To everyone who thought it was a good idea: thanks for the encouragement.

[John Edward Mercier]

Change it to something of value like gas or diesel, might get more takers.

[margomaps]

Change it to something of value like gas or diesel, might get more takers.

Nah.  If someone likes the idea and wants to do it, great.  If not, no big deal.   

I think the project would probably work out better if someone was excited about doing it just for the experience anyway.

[Ron Helwig]

If anyone wants to blog their experiences on shiresilver.org, just let me know.

Shiresilver.com is intended to be a list of merchants accepting silver, and at what conditions. I haven't been working on it lately - busy with other stuff; but if someone were to give me incentive (and not necessarily monetary) ...

[Kat Kanning]

The NH Free Press will accept Shire Silver 

[margomaps]

If anyone wants to blog their experiences on shiresilver.org, just let me know.

Thanks for the offer Ron.  As I mentioned (rather flippantly) in an earlier post, it would be cool if this project were to coincide with the blossoming of the Shire Silver project.  Ideally Shire Silver would already be operational, but...

Shiresilver.com is intended to be a list of merchants accepting silver, and at what conditions. I haven't been working on it lately - busy with other stuff; but if someone were to give me incentive (and not necessarily monetary) ...

What kind of incentive?  How about..

- "mad props"?
- respect, yo?
- eternal gratitude?
- sworn fealty?
- 1/2 of my lint collection?

  No, but seriously.  I've occasionally checked in on the progress of Shire Silver, and it could definitely use a good kick in the pants to get moving again.  It seems pretty stagnant right now which is a bad sign for the project; if people have a lot of other projects that are of higher priority to them, then the whole "silver economy" idea might not actually have the demand that many of us had hoped.  Perhaps the time is just not right yet?

Ok, I'm getting off topic.  Where's the most up-to-date discussion about Shire Silver?  Is it shiresilver.org?  Maybe there's something I can do to help things move along a little?

[Ron Helwig]

  No, but seriously.  I've occasionally checked in on the progress of Shire Silver, and it could definitely use a good kick in the pants to get moving again.  It seems pretty stagnant right now which is a bad sign for the project; if people have a lot of other projects that are of higher priority to them, then the whole "silver economy" idea might not actually have the demand that many of us had hoped.  Perhaps the time is just not right yet?

Ok, I'm getting off topic.  Where's the most up-to-date discussion about Shire Silver?  Is it shiresilver.org?  Maybe there's something I can do to help things move along a little?

The next steps we need to take are:

• I need a good source for the 30 Day Moving Average. I can get the spot FRN price of silver from various sources, but I want to be able to programmatically display prices in 30DMA as well as spot, spot + X%, etc.
• We need the dies to be made, at least the initial prototypes. No one has yet gotten that done, and we are missing the radius measurement of the rounded corners.

I do want the primary discussion of Shire Silver to happen on shiresilver.org, especially since I haven't been able to spend a lot of time here.