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The new Greek government program | 171 comments (171 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Electronic money (4.00 / 3)
It's not like Varoufakis doesn't play with open cards...

Can a Bitcoin-style virtual currency solve the Greek financial crisis? | Comment is free | The Guardian

If things go badly for Greece, finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has said he would consider creating a parallel digital currency, using Bitcoin's digital security and transparency, but doing the exact opposite of what the money fundamentalists intend.
by generic on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 03:51:09 PM EST
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Re: Electronic money (none / 0)
This reminds me of the old tally stick system in use up until the 19th century in the UK as well as in much of Europe during the middle ages. It also combines some of the features of Tax Anticipation Notes as advocated by Warren Mosler. Perhaps Greece could create enough Digital Euros to cover existing tax arrears. Even a fraction of that amount would constitute a serious stimulus when injected into the Greek economy. A further advantage is that this new money would be more likely to stay in Greece, where there is an assured use for it as payment of taxes.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Feb 24th, 2015 at 04:00:20 PM EST
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Re: Electronic money (none / 0)
But, to create electronic money, don't you first need electronics?
by Upstate NY on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 09:34:52 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (4.00 / 5)
the issuance of a Citizen Smart Card that can be used as an ID card, in the Health System, as well as for gaining access to the food stamp program etc.

It's in the program...

You hand out smart cards to the entire population. They are initially intended for accessing the health system, and for food stamps. Every citizen has an account created by the government. Retailers and health providers need terminals, obviously.

Then, some time later, ta-daa, you roll out Citizen Smart Card 2.0. It's the card you already have, but now you have an "Air Miles" account, with an initial free allocation on it. You can use your Air Miles to pay your tax. Retailers who accept food stamps will accept them for payment too, using them for their own tax liabilities, and exchanging them with other companies (all companies can have an Air Miles account too). Government income support would also be paid through the system, perhaps pensions...

Pretty quickly you have critical mass for a purely electronic currency -- I don't see any immediate need for physical scrip.

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 10:27:29 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (4.00 / 5)
And you need to wire up all stores anyway since you want to collect VAT effectively. Who can object to that.
by generic on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 10:38:19 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (4.00 / 4)
Can't wait to see the face of the Eurogroup chairman in June...

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 10:45:12 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (none / 1)
Still this presupposes that they make it to June. They'll have to fight the notTroika every step of the way. Have they even gotten a single cent yet? Of course it doesn't get easier to provoke a crisis once the can is bouncing down the road and the ECB governing council will probably be less hostile to Greece in another rotation. When was the timing for those rotations decided anyway?
by generic on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 11:12:38 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (none / 1)
Also we shouldn't forget that the Eurogroup's record of keeping to its commitments is less than stellar.
by generic on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 11:21:44 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (none / 1)
The rotation was decided in September.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 11:27:35 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (none / 0)
Democracy is great isn't it?
by generic on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 11:30:16 AM EST
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Re: Electronic money (4.00 / 2)
Who says June says April. The first order of business is to get past the liquidity crunch in mid-March. But they can already start legislating and implementing parts of their program. It will be interesting to see which are the first parts of the agreement that they implement.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 25th, 2015 at 11:29:32 AM EST
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The new Greek government program | 171 comments (171 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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