Life Dollars

In Douglas Rushkoff’s “Life Dollars: Finding Currency in Community” he negates the consensus to put the blame of the current economic state on corporations or on their CEOs. Instead, Rushkoff (2010) states that this downturn was caused by “corporatism itself: a logic we have internalized into our very being, a lens through which we view the world around us, and an ethos with which we justify our behaviors”. He focuses mainly on the impact of the economic downturn on one’s local community. Rushkoff offers a few examples that were used to help his local community and could be useful if implemented on a larger scale.

Rushkoff makes it clear that consumers have placed too much value on the brand names of consumer goods or “good produced for present consumption” (Case, Fair & Oster, 2009, p.64). Rushkoff believes that consumers are losing out on the true value of things, such as relationships, by applying too much emphasis on goods. He offers a few examples of methods used to help his community. The first was his community’s participation in helping an entrepreneur salvage his local restaurant by providing investment or “using resources to produce new capital” (Case, Fair & Oster, 2009, p.64). This was done by the purchase of local currency in the name of Comfort Dollars. Rather than have the entrepreneur borrow from a bank he is borrowing from his customers who he in turn repays them with food. Another example used by Rushkoff is the use of life dollars wherein you can provide a service and earn credit that can later be used for services you require. Rushkoff (2010) states this form of currency is “easier to record and administer value exchange in an increasingly decentralized marketplace”. Lastly, Rushkoff notes that he has seen more efforts towards a bartering system amongst those who are unemployed. He recommends that a bartering system will be beneficial as it will network people and re-connect them to relationships. These solutions are examples of way to move...