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Tuna Tokens, Soy Bean Cents, Corn Coins - why not?
Beef bullion, potato pence...
If you hold the round metal promise, no one can deny you cashing it in for the actual commodity.
Tuna Tokens - Bismuth? Or some other metal valued equally to market rate for both commodities.
Potato Pence -
one spud per one ounce copper coin.
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Annotation:
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my pound coin will buy me potatoes any day. huh? |
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[21], that's already well baked at airports. |
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I was expecting some toilet the size of a coin. |
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Do yo all feel the same way now? |
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You could have one made of gold that could be redeemed for gold. |
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This is essentially how the commodities future market works, except without the physical coins. |
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What currency do I get paid in? |
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That depends on what you are selling. If you are selling potatos, you'll get paid in potato tokens. If you're selling launches into orbit, you'll be paid in orbital launch tokens. If you're selling your own labour, you'll be paid in labour tokens. |
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//If you are selling potatos, you'll get paid in potato
tokens.// |
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Hmmm. So, I give somebody 10lb of potatoes and
they give me 10 potato tokens, which enable me to
go out and buy...10lb...of...potatoes? |
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//If you are selling potatos, you'll get paid in
potato tokens.// Guaranteeing {edit: vide [MB]
supra}
that you'll only be
able to buy things you don't need. Except for
people who sell labor. This would be great if you
wanted to enforce a labor theory of value. |
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Would there be a secondary market in which
potato-farmers could exchange their tokens for,
e.g. turnip tokens? Could gold-miners exchange
their gold-tokens (redeemable for gold) for
potato-tokens (redeemable for potatos)? (If the
answer is "no," then what prevents the miners
from starving?) |
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The question is, would potato-tokens remain in
circulation, under such a system, or would it all
revert to a fungible currency backed by gold, or
maybe gold and silver? The historical record
suggests the latter, but perhaps something could
be done to prevent it, e.g. taxes payable *only* in
kind. |
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Also, what about different grades within each commodity? I could grow really nasty, runtaceously tiny, watery, tasteless potatoes, and sell them, stale, for 1 potato token each. Then I would use the tokens to buy in fat, purple-skinned, bursting-with-flavour-and -nutrition heritage rare varieties of organically grown biodynamically harvested super-spuds. Potato arbitrage the new route to riches! |
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Also would a different type of similar product have to have a different token? What about pre-cut potato chips? Pre-cut chips made from moulded reconstituted potato? Bulk sacks of reconstituted potato? Bulk sacks of dried potato? Bulk sacks of dried potato starch? Pots of potato starch wallpaper paste? Chips made from leftover wallpaperpaste, deep fried in reject bio-diesel oil, kept in a hot display counter for a week and then sold with a can of Irn Bru and a deep fried “meat pie”? I can see the problems looming... in the sandwich bar:
“I'll have a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, please, organic rye bread, no butter, no mayo, a little olive oil on the lettuce, and toasted for 2 minutes each side please”.
“I'm so sorry sir, we have organic sourdough bread or non-organic rye bread, but no organic rye. Which would you prefer to substitute?”
“Oh, well cancel the order. My tokens here won't permit me to order anything other than a a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on organic rye bread, without butter or mayo, a little olive oil on the lettuce, and toasted for 2 minutes each side. Bollox!”
[sotto voce] “I can do you a black market deal sir, just don’t tell anyone. We wouldn’t want to get into trouble with the bank. Slip us a street cocaine token as well, and we’ll get your sandwich made up within the next 5 minutes.” |
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Okay, so I have a thousand potato tokens, and then
there is a potato blight, and no potatoes produced
that year. Where do my guaranteed potatoes come
from? Gold or oil is one thing, since they don't tend
to spoil, but produce tends to have a finite shelf
life. |
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