These posters at Eastgate Town Center boost local economy in the world of the arts.
By Franklin Sanders
Simple, practical steps that you can take personally to rebuild your local economy and stop financing the Tapeworm economy in the next thirty days. Pick one item to perform every week for the next four weeks, then watch those baby steps start to run.
Who’s your merchant?
➤ Vote for your local economy with your dollars. Patronize local merchants and shun national chains like Wal-Mart, Kroger, Lowes and the big box stores.
➤ Make it a moral issue, because it is. Urge your neighbors to stop financing the destruction of your local economy and start rebuilding it by buying locally!
[This essay was first published here October 2012. — DJT]
➤ Start a buy local campaign. Visit county officials and local chamber of commerce and persuade them to sponsor a “buy local” campaign. They’re not interested? Have 500 bumper stickers printed up that read, “Buy it in [our] county!” or “Shop in [our] county first!” or “Love Your Neighbor: Shop Locally.” Hand them out to local merchants to distribute to their customers. See if they don’t thank you.
➤ You may pay more, but you’re buying more. You may pay a little more locally, but remember you’re also getting more, rebuilding your local economy and helping your neighbors prosper.
Who’s your farmer?
➤ Support the Food Freedom Movement by patronizing your local farmer. From him you will buy cleaner and more nourishing food while at the same time you support your own local economy, rather than giant food corporations. Sure, you will pay more, but you will get far more: chemical free, genetically pure, healthy, nutrient-dense food that really nourishes your family.
➤ Look for CSAs. Community Sponsored Agriculture or CSA offers a great deal to you and your farmer. You subscribe to his vegetable production in advance, and throughout the growing season he delivers farm-fresh produce to you weekly. For local CSAs, check out localharvest.org.
➤ Patronize local farmers’ markets. You’ll find a list of those near you at localharvest.org.
➤ Buy meat and milk locally. Many state laws prohibit buying clean, nutritious raw milk. For an unbiased discussion of raw milk issues and a list of producers near you, visit realmilk.com. Find local meat and egg producers at localharvest.org.
➤ Learn more about the Food Freedom Movement at the Weston A. Price Foundation.
➤ Support local politicians. Find out which state representatives and sheriffs support local agriculture and support them.
Who’s your banker?
➤ Where’s your money tonight? Did you entrust it to Bank of America or Chase to float more speculation and drain your neighbors? Come clean: deposit it in your local bank to finance your neighbors and local economy.
➤ Pull your money out of rotten banks. Check out local banks at banktracker.msnbc.msn.com/banks. Find out how many non-performing assets — in plain English, “bad loans”—they have, and how they stack up against other banks in your area. If your bank has a high percentage of bad loans, jerk out your money and put it into a safer local bank.
➤ Move your bank accounts to a safe, locally owned bank. Explain to the officer why you are opening accounts with them. Make him understand that you want your money invested in local enterprises, not in government bonds and speculations.
➤ Finance local entrepreneurs directly in local start-ups. Share the entrepreneur’s risk by tying your return to the profits instead of charging him interest. Give marketing and management help along with financial.
➤ Start circulating real money locally. We forge the chains of our own slavery and support everything the federal government does every time we use their green paper money or electronic bank money. Sure, it’s very difficult to avoid it altogether, but take the baby step today. Carry a little silver or gold coin with you and make a habit of asking people, “Do you want paper money or silver or gold money?” At first they will stare at you in complete bafflement, but it offers you a chance to wake them up. You can show them exactly what the silver or gold is worth 24 hours a day at silverandgoldaremoney.com. As people learn how bad phony money really is, and how much better silver and gold serve them, they will begin asking for it themselves. Your community will then begin to build a local circulation of silver and gold that will stay locally to finance the economy. And if the Federal Reserve System destroys the U.S. dollar in hyperinflation, your local economy with its silver and gold will keep rolling right along.
Where’s your charity?
➤ Stop sending money to the United Way and give instead to a local church or charities. Make sure that local charity is helping local people generously and graciously.
➤ Who have you helped in your community? Have you given time, labor, or money to anyone locally in need? Check with food banks, local shelters, senior homes, hospitals, and especially look for individuals who need your help. Replace telescopic charity with local charity serving local needs face to face. Originally published February 2011. Used by permission.
Franklin Sanders is publisher of The Moneychanger, a privately circulated monthly newsletter that focus on gold and silver and the application of Christianity to economics, culture and family life. We have subscribed to this newsletter for more than 20 years, and consider it a must read. Franklin is an active trader in gold and silver (he’ll swap your green Federal Reserve rectangles and give you real money in return). He trades with savers and investors outside Tennessee. Subscribe to his daily price report and market commentary on the website.
