COSTRUCT NEW LOCAL COMMUNITY
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CONSTRUCTION OF A "NEW LOCAL COMMUNITY"
-By formation of regional platform and issuance of regional currency -
1. INTRODUCTION
By being exposed to global economic competition, local industries are eliminated, factories of large enterprises advanced to the provinces to secure the labor force move overseas, and the factories that were attracted to industrial parks created for the revitalization of local economy go out of business, so the local economy and local communities have declined. For this situation, while attending the mechanism under the market economy, it have been trying to regenerate the area and to promote the region by conducting countermeasures such as attracting new factories and companies, attracting and approving large stores advancing, and subsidizing and fostering local industries as before. However, despite some successes that have made local industries by ingenuity, it is the overall situation that those countermeasures are already not effective in general and have failed at all.
This paper is intended to revitalize the region by forming a "new local community" in the basic municipality, and to prevent the life of community from suffering fatal damage even if there is a worldwide and serious financial crisis that is highly likely to be brought about by global financial capitalism.
2. NEW LOCAL COMMUNITY
"Old community" is a local community that functions as governance and administrative unit that is unitedly connected with the production community that produces agricultural production, and that is existed by:
① compulsion of strong human relations based on feudal ideology and tradition;
② information sharing and control by face-to-face consultation based on such human relations, and
(3) distribution of goods and services by reciprocity.
This "old community" has been decomposed into individuals as a result of universalization of market economy (free economy) based on industrial production and freedom and human rights thought, and the community has collapsed, extinct, and is in the absence state. As a result, "public" is externalized to organization managing and governing people independently from people, and "private" and "public" are oppositely opposed to each other, the function of local governments and the state as a "public" governing organization increased, and the administrative organization was overloaded. In addition, it is said that "private" and "public" connecting system is election of chief (administrative chief) and election of representatives (local councils) in the local governments, but it is flushed to form and has become a morose. Representatives only play the role of passing regional egos in the details of the plan as a vicarious interest in a narrow area of their own election ground.
"New local community" is a community that is regenerated by citizens of a certain area that were separated under the free economy by close collaboration based on mutual relationships through progress of informatization, and it is a community established by
(1) free and equal human relations,
(2) information sharing through the Internet (SNS),
(3) mutual aid and collaboration within the region,
(4) establishment of distribution of goods and services within the region, and as for smoothing them
(5) local currency as a distribution medium based on mutual trust.
Local community exist on the basic spirit that "Let's enrich our lives by interconnecting the resources and abilities that each person living in the community has", and it is a field in which each person lives happily ( it is important that they live happily), the child grows healthily, the elderly keeps his / her life alive, and it is an organization that conducts business to prepare the environment so that such field will function. In order to ensure autonomy and independence of individuals, local residents (community members) do not have a whole-personal and close relationship, but have mutually multiplied and many relationships in every aspect such as hobbies, entertainment, education and welfare, and by having them a sparse and dense relationship like "Temple net, sparse and not leak" will be formed.
Constructing a local community means reconstructing collaboration and mutual aid systems in the local society. Cooperation and mutual aid here are not limited to food, agriculture, education, culture, tradition and other fields, but also broader meaning including a wide range of social activities including production and distribution of goods and services. Under such a wide range of collaboration and mutual aid system, the local welfare system which is considered to be a typical mutual aid system can be widely and smoothly operated. In order to construct such a local community, building regional platform and using regional currency are extremely effective, so a local community can build by the both operate as car wheels of local community.
3. REGIONAL PLATFORM
Regional platforms used to build local communities are fields of collaboration where people gather and draw interactions. A regional platform that fits the new local community can be built using SNS (social networking service) formed in the web space, that is extremely effective. SNS use "web space", while utilizing its advantages, overcoming "darkness" such as outflow of return and free ride in "web space" by mutual "trust" by manifestation of name. Regional platforms using SNS, unlike regional media in one direction, skillfully combine people and resources inside and outside the region while utilizing an interactive "web space", and it forms a field to promote the collaboration of people for solution to regional problems and community development. There are already many examples of dealing with regional issues by utilizing regional platforms (for example, Yatsushiro city "Gorotto Yacchiro", Toyama prefecture "Toyama Internet Citizen School", Mitaka city "Senior SOHO popular salon · Mitaka" etc.).
The relationship between the SNS and the area (community) was taken up from the viewpoint of "regional informatization" by regional SNS since 2004, but it is a reality that it has stagnated from becoming stereotyped in discussion accompanying regional constraints, little progressing in number of users, problem in economical sustainability due to the fact that it can not be modeled as a business model, and the like, but this is the time before "Facebook" and "Twitter" (see ⑪). In recent years, a regional SNS can be formed at low cost by using free SNS such as "Facebook" or "Twitter" (specifically, for example, it is expected to provide a community version of "Facebook At Work").
The regional platform needs at least the presence of a bulletin board in which regional residents provide information, pose issues and problems, describe opinions, with their names revealed, and can search and look at answers and other views expressed to them, further it is necessary to be developed in a system that can provide them in the form that each items being arranged by field or region, etc. so as to be used effectively.
In addition, it is desirable to develope to systems that receiving the presentation of the capability that regional residents can provide to the local community, receiving the presentation of the capabilities required by the business entities within the local community on the contrary, and presenting the both as supply/ demand information of talented people by each ability and field, and to systems that providing cooperation to volunteer organizations coordinating matching between them, also to systems that receiving sales availability information and purchase wish information of local products and presenting them in the form that being arranged by each items of goods, sale prices and selling places, further to systems that issuing and settling the regional currency when issuing the following regional currency.
4. REGIONAL CURRENCY
There is a need to issue regional currency to build a local community. This is because, in legal currencies, pursuit of profit becomes self-purpose, or even if it does not intend to do so, it will be strongly influenced or dominated by the economic system because of being directly connected to such economic system, as a result at least it will be becoming to deny the community activities, and it is impossible to revitalize a new community. Here, the regional currency is one having the characteristics that (1) distribution is limited to the region, (2) no interest, no capitalization, (3) liquidity privilege is not large, and basically it is one promoting reciprocity by exchanging "donation" at in a wide and shallow relationship.
After all under the social division of labor system, money (funds) is necessary to execute production (value production) as an industry, and it can not refuse to be required premium (interest) for borrowing the money. Because money has a high liquidity privilege of being able to exchange anything at any time, it is in a position advantageous to other goods, so ownership of value chunks having the liquidity privilege gives a privileged position and power. Interest (basic interest) is a liquidity premium of money.
On the other hand, in the currency (regional currency) as an exchange medium to be exchanged within the local community, liquidity premium is not accrued because of a mechanism that the liquidity secures through exchange of information on the regional platform, in addition it is natural not to put in interest since the currency have sufficient profit by keeping its face value as compared with the fact that value of goods and information declines with time, so it does not need to add interest to the currency. In some cases, minus money (not 'debt') holding may be tolerated as the money is based on trust. Also, the regional currency is only an simple exchange medium, so possession of money does not have any special meaning to economic power and status.
In addition, against that the current legal currency "is acts like a pump sucking up the stock from money earn region and injecting into money more increasable region","it is important to maintain the liquidity of the local economy by geographically limiting the distribution range of money, the regional currency will be able to stop that income revenue obtained in the region flow out to the outside. If there is the regional currency and its distribution urging mechanism is incorporated, it will be able to revitalize the regional economy to a great extent." (Reference⑥: Margrit Kennedy, "regional currency as a complementary currency"), and the regional currency is recognized that "it contribute to dig up the human resources and make the human resources networking, and is suitable tool to expand the network and realize the regional revitalization." (Reference⑥: NPO Tamba Development Projects Chairperson Toshiko Akai, "regional currency nurture social capital"). Thus, it is possible to make a high autonomy region with revitalizing the regional circulation by digging ability of people, information and resources, etc with taking advantage of the regional currency.
In addition, it is recognized that the formation of a "new local community" lowers internal costs, increases competitiveness to the outside, thereby creating an advantageous means of exchanges with the outside, and revitalizing it externally. But, products and services are cheap for internal distribution and if they can be sold at higher price in the outside, it is trying to sell outside, as a result one thing bivalent fails. Therefore, a regional currency for distribution within the region is necessary. Different currency, namely regional currency than the legal currency is necessary to establish a single bivalent state with different prices between the community and the external market.
However, it is not to impossibly try to distribute regional currency, but to construct a system that needs regional currency. It is vital to produce a situation that is inconvenient not having own regional currency, by setting up a system that requires regional currency for the exchange of goods and services and various payments and doing economic activities rooted in the area. Conversely, in regions that do not have such a system, unless they have many products suitable for exchanges with legal currency, it is only a matter of getting into poverty.
By the way, there are already many issuing examples of regional currencies. A general regional currency is regarded as one that is enriching people's lives by promoting smooth distribution of goods and services (value) not riding on a commercial basis (market economy) such as a small amount of demand, a limited area, being between "reciprocity" and "merchandise trading",etc. For example, "Eco Money" advocated by Mr. Toshiharu Kato is "a means to distribute in a variety of ways values such as environment, welfare, community, education, culture etc, which are difficult to evaluate in current currency, through mutual exchange among members of the community", "Means (money) to smoothly distribute (mutual exchange) the value not riding in the market circulation". Also, there are regional currencies like "LETS" that were conceived and realized under the circumstances where legal currencies do not circulate due to a major depression and currencies distributed within the region are needed.
However, the regional currency should not be limited to the value which does not get on the market, it should be expanded more widely, and it should be a means to smoothly circulate "value" created and produced by the local community in the region, being not carried on "market circulation" outside the community. The state where regional currency is required despite the legal currency being distributed is possible to consider the state where people and information are connected on the regional platform and when distributing "value" within the regional platform the regional currency is used naturally. Specifically, the providers of goods and services announce on the regional platform with a selling price, the buyers announce with buying price, then settles by negotiated transaction on the regional platform. By doing this, it is considered that the regional platform will be used within the region to promote closer and fulfilling exchanges, and the need for regional currencies will increase. Thus, the regional platform is used as a means for efficiently exchanging goods and services, and the regional currency fulfills the mediation of the exchange, which will result in the revitalization of the local community.
It is best to issue this regional currency by the municipality himself which is the local community, and the local community and its regional platform have secured "trust" by manifestation of name, regional currencies based on the "trust" is right and proper to be issued only as digital money to be settled by exchanging data between accounts. Furthermore, in order to promote the wide circulation of regional currencies, it is preferable to make a part of payment by local governments at least welfare projects in regional currency. In recent years, there are situations in which the influence of private enterprises entering the field and the penetration of market economy is worried about the volunteer economy ("reciprocity" and "trust relationship") in the welfare field, but it should be possible to oppose that by regional currency. Rather, by limiting to distribution in regional currency, private business operators will be similar to NPLLC (Limited Liability Company having Non-Profit clause in the articles of association) because it becomes non-profit distribution. The expansion of the distribution of regional currency brings about the development of the local community, the local community and the regional currency mutually act together to expand and develop together. In addition, the regional currency carry out function to brew a sense of unity in the local community (Sense of community), while at the same time the expansion and development of the local community will universalize the distribution of regional currency.
An example of a more specific method of issuing a regional currency will be described below: deposit a part of budget such as welfare budget to the issuing agency of the local currency established in the local government, request the individuals and companies to donate (including hometown tax payment) and deposit the deposited legal currency to the issuing authority, and the issuing authority issues the regional currency twice of the deposited legal currency as collateral. In this way, the local government can provide regional currencies equal in value to the donation amount for donors and use the same amount of regional currency for welfare, doubling the welfare budget and securing the issue volume of regional currencies.
The donor can use the received regional currency equivalent to donation amount for purchasing local products and services, or donate it to various projects. Companies and stores receive regional currency as commodity price for at least local products and make available for procurement and purchase of local products at low cost by using regional currency. Furthermore, for local peoples employment of shops, businesses and local government officials, pay part of wages in regional currency, for temporary employment and silver talented personnel pay whole of wages in regional currency. Tax payment to the municipality is also allowed to be paid in regional currency. Regional currency can be converted into legal currency, but donations can not be converted into legal currency and donators can only convert regional currency exceeding the donation amount into legal currency.
When actually issuing the local currency, it is necessary to clear the following regulation law. Therefore, at least the local currency will be issued as digital money.
① Law relating to regulation of prepaid form certificates (Not apply for ≤ 6 months of validity, but for "structural reform special zones" not apply without period of time)
② Banknotes similar securities control law (not applicable to electromagnetic records)
③ Financial Settlement Act (Issuing Concept of Article 3.2)
④ Investment law (in case of deposit)
⑤ Banking Law (in case of similar to foreign exchange transaction)
5. REFORMATION OF ADMINISTRATION AND PARLIAMENT
In the basic municipality as a local community, it is necessary to change the administration, to eliminate the governance function of providing the citizen (private) with services from above or from outside, and to be constructed as a new community management organization. Administration, that is, the governance organs that manages individual disjointed citizens and provides necessary public services, will change to something which is inherently different from the administration externally opposed to the citizen, becoming an internal organization by the establishment of the local community.
The administration is positioned as a standing secretariat for conducting projects to create an environment in which the "field" of the community functions, specifically, for example it is administered by the executive board, which is composed of the chief and the executive director. The chief is the representative of the community and at the same time the head of the executive board and is elected by election. The executive director is appointed by the chief, and each executive director takes charge of each department of the secretariat and supervises each. The executive director can concurrently serve as the general manager of the department in charge. If the chief resigns, the executive director will resign at the same time. In the secretariat of basic municipality for the affairs and projects of each of departments such as education, welfare, industry, environment, finance and general affairs, the administrative affairs and projects consigned by the upper municipalities such as the national and prefectural governments have to be conducted merely as they are, but the others should be considered over once more as collaborative affairs and projects in the local community.
Education - It should organize volunteer organizations that carry out extracurricular lessons, temporary lecturer dispatching, lectures, learning cram school and learning courses at the cultural center by free of charge or at a low price. Also promote to replace teaching materials with tablet. Also, It should try to utilize the vacant classroom in the area. Furthermore, It is preferable to create a "Regional Management School" (Reference Mitaka City) by a school management council that cooperatively manages elementary and junior high schools in the region.
Welfare - It should attempt to operate coordination systems of social welfare council, social workers, child consultation office, various works, volunteer organizations and others and to adjust fund allocation.
Industries - It should attempt to activate various groups of commerce (commodities manufacturing and distribution), civil engineering construction, agriculture and forestry industry, and promote mutual exchanges between them, and raise the momentum of town omission by seeking collaborative work crossing fields.
Environment - It is preferable to attract processing plants that achieve recycling through advanced processing in consultation with residents in the neighborhood, while strongly suppressing sales within the region of easy processing plants of industrial waste. Also it is preferable to aim at self-sufficiency model area independent of nuclear power and fossil fuel, by working on waste power generation, woody biomass power generation, solar power generation using cultivation abandoned land, hydrogen production by excessive electric power generation and hydrogen power generation system.
Finance - It should conduct practice of budget and settlement, municipal bond management, and regional currency management.
General Affairs - it should oversee the administration of the secretariat and the regional platform management and regional cooperation.
On the operation of these departments it can efficiently and smoothly activate by doing operation using regional currency. It will increase the degree of freedom of activities and revitalize activities of the volunteer organization and welfare projects by stoping payment of subsidies to volunteer organizations and forming a voucher system which pays local currency to beneficiaries and the beneficiaries pays local currency as a return for services received. In addition,, as much as possible, beneficiaries of volunteer activities also receive local currency by working in volunteer organizations etc. instead of merely receiving regional currency and pay regional currency for receiving other services.
Also, municipal assembly needs to change as a matter of course. The assembly is composed of the same number or twice as many executive directors as members (inspection directors) appointed by the elections, and have functions as a coordinator to connect community members and executive directors and functions as an audit board for auditing the executive board. Assemblyman (audit director) shoulders roles to listen to requests for individuals and organizations forming the community especially departments in charge, to verify the state of activity, to coordinate with the executive director, and to contrive necessary measures, and plays a role of controlling the death of whether or not the community functions as a community. Also, assemblyman conduct proposals and discussions of strategic policies and plans for the chiefs and the executive board, establish necessary regulations, and approve the budget and the settlement of accounts, with conducting general verification and evaluation of community activities as a member of the audit board.
Assemblyman (audit director) participate as an observer at the executive board to effectively conduct the audit and express their opinions. Conversely, when municipal assembly examines and evaluates the projects operated by the executive board each year, the chief and executive directors can participate as observers and express their opinions. In addition, the municipal assembly resolves confidence and no confidence of the executive board or individual executive director each year, in the case of no confidence the chief and executive director resigns, and in the case of no confidence of the chief, the chief election is carried out, but at the same time the audit board (municipal assembly) which passed the vote of no confidence also dissolve, and also elect municipal assembly election. The budget is organized by the executive board and presented to municipal assembly, it is a real free pass, grasping the contents of the expenditure in the budget as the start data of the audit, confirming and verifying the budget execution process, the settlement is verified rigorously according to the substance and verified the consistency with the overall strategy.
6. IN CONCLUSION
By building the "new local community" through the formation of regional platforms and the issue of regional currencies and revolutionizing the administration and municipal assembly so as to conform to it, it is possible to revitalize the local community, and it can maintain a stable autonomous regional economy even if the financial system of global financial capitalism falls into a crisis situation. Of course, the local community naturally is not insulated and isolated from the outside world, and there are various communities around the local community, such as other local communities, the producer enterprise community, the social activity community, but by building regional platforms, they are widely collaborating via that network and they are connected to the global world through them. However, independence and autonomy of local communities are the principle, and broad-area governance should be limited to those corresponding to the necessity of solution of wide-area issues that can not be solved in the region. The wide area governance organization will spread to local governments (prefectures or states that will be established in the future), the national government organization, and international organizations that respond to the spread of regional culture and economic sphere. In addition, it is considered that the Doshu system will not be established as effectively functioning unless the local government comprising this local community establishes.
REFERENCE MATERIALS
① Eiichi Morino, "Viewpoints of Independent Economy and Monetary Reform
Theory", Pall Publishing, 2014
② Kenji Saito, "Bitcoin that I found", Taro Jiro Editor's, 2014
""Money" to change on the Internet",
Gentosha Renaissance new book, 2014
③ B · Rieter, "Money collapse - New community currency",
Japan Economic Review Companies, 2000
④ Toshiharu Kato, "New Century of Eco Money", Keisou Shobo, 2000
⑤ Ikuma Saga, "Regional currency", NHK Life man new book, 2004
"Probono - New Social Contribution New Ways of Working",
Keisou Shobo 2011
⑥ Makiko Okada edited, "Regional Regeneration and Network",
Showa Do, 2008
⑦ Aki Ito, "Electronic money revolution", NHK publication, 2010
⑧ Tadashi Nishi edited, "Regional currency", Minerva Shobo, 2013
⑨ Ken Suzuki, "Smooth society and its enemies", Keisou Shobo, 2013
⑩ Ken'ichiro Onitsuka, "Restructuring of rural communities",
Agriculture and forestry statistics publication, 2015
⑪ Hajime Maruta, "The new homeland created by the web",
Kodansha Contemporary new book, 2007
⑫ Masahiko Shoji, et al., "Regional SNS Front Line", ASCII, 2007
⑬ Hajime Maruta, et al., "Regional Information Technology Recognition and
Design", NTT Publication, 2006
-By formation of regional platform and issuance of regional currency -
1. INTRODUCTION
By being exposed to global economic competition, local industries are eliminated, factories of large enterprises advanced to the provinces to secure the labor force move overseas, and the factories that were attracted to industrial parks created for the revitalization of local economy go out of business, so the local economy and local communities have declined. For this situation, while attending the mechanism under the market economy, it have been trying to regenerate the area and to promote the region by conducting countermeasures such as attracting new factories and companies, attracting and approving large stores advancing, and subsidizing and fostering local industries as before. However, despite some successes that have made local industries by ingenuity, it is the overall situation that those countermeasures are already not effective in general and have failed at all.
This paper is intended to revitalize the region by forming a "new local community" in the basic municipality, and to prevent the life of community from suffering fatal damage even if there is a worldwide and serious financial crisis that is highly likely to be brought about by global financial capitalism.
2. NEW LOCAL COMMUNITY
"Old community" is a local community that functions as governance and administrative unit that is unitedly connected with the production community that produces agricultural production, and that is existed by:
① compulsion of strong human relations based on feudal ideology and tradition;
② information sharing and control by face-to-face consultation based on such human relations, and
(3) distribution of goods and services by reciprocity.
This "old community" has been decomposed into individuals as a result of universalization of market economy (free economy) based on industrial production and freedom and human rights thought, and the community has collapsed, extinct, and is in the absence state. As a result, "public" is externalized to organization managing and governing people independently from people, and "private" and "public" are oppositely opposed to each other, the function of local governments and the state as a "public" governing organization increased, and the administrative organization was overloaded. In addition, it is said that "private" and "public" connecting system is election of chief (administrative chief) and election of representatives (local councils) in the local governments, but it is flushed to form and has become a morose. Representatives only play the role of passing regional egos in the details of the plan as a vicarious interest in a narrow area of their own election ground.
"New local community" is a community that is regenerated by citizens of a certain area that were separated under the free economy by close collaboration based on mutual relationships through progress of informatization, and it is a community established by
(1) free and equal human relations,
(2) information sharing through the Internet (SNS),
(3) mutual aid and collaboration within the region,
(4) establishment of distribution of goods and services within the region, and as for smoothing them
(5) local currency as a distribution medium based on mutual trust.
Local community exist on the basic spirit that "Let's enrich our lives by interconnecting the resources and abilities that each person living in the community has", and it is a field in which each person lives happily ( it is important that they live happily), the child grows healthily, the elderly keeps his / her life alive, and it is an organization that conducts business to prepare the environment so that such field will function. In order to ensure autonomy and independence of individuals, local residents (community members) do not have a whole-personal and close relationship, but have mutually multiplied and many relationships in every aspect such as hobbies, entertainment, education and welfare, and by having them a sparse and dense relationship like "Temple net, sparse and not leak" will be formed.
Constructing a local community means reconstructing collaboration and mutual aid systems in the local society. Cooperation and mutual aid here are not limited to food, agriculture, education, culture, tradition and other fields, but also broader meaning including a wide range of social activities including production and distribution of goods and services. Under such a wide range of collaboration and mutual aid system, the local welfare system which is considered to be a typical mutual aid system can be widely and smoothly operated. In order to construct such a local community, building regional platform and using regional currency are extremely effective, so a local community can build by the both operate as car wheels of local community.
3. REGIONAL PLATFORM
Regional platforms used to build local communities are fields of collaboration where people gather and draw interactions. A regional platform that fits the new local community can be built using SNS (social networking service) formed in the web space, that is extremely effective. SNS use "web space", while utilizing its advantages, overcoming "darkness" such as outflow of return and free ride in "web space" by mutual "trust" by manifestation of name. Regional platforms using SNS, unlike regional media in one direction, skillfully combine people and resources inside and outside the region while utilizing an interactive "web space", and it forms a field to promote the collaboration of people for solution to regional problems and community development. There are already many examples of dealing with regional issues by utilizing regional platforms (for example, Yatsushiro city "Gorotto Yacchiro", Toyama prefecture "Toyama Internet Citizen School", Mitaka city "Senior SOHO popular salon · Mitaka" etc.).
The relationship between the SNS and the area (community) was taken up from the viewpoint of "regional informatization" by regional SNS since 2004, but it is a reality that it has stagnated from becoming stereotyped in discussion accompanying regional constraints, little progressing in number of users, problem in economical sustainability due to the fact that it can not be modeled as a business model, and the like, but this is the time before "Facebook" and "Twitter" (see ⑪). In recent years, a regional SNS can be formed at low cost by using free SNS such as "Facebook" or "Twitter" (specifically, for example, it is expected to provide a community version of "Facebook At Work").
The regional platform needs at least the presence of a bulletin board in which regional residents provide information, pose issues and problems, describe opinions, with their names revealed, and can search and look at answers and other views expressed to them, further it is necessary to be developed in a system that can provide them in the form that each items being arranged by field or region, etc. so as to be used effectively.
In addition, it is desirable to develope to systems that receiving the presentation of the capability that regional residents can provide to the local community, receiving the presentation of the capabilities required by the business entities within the local community on the contrary, and presenting the both as supply/ demand information of talented people by each ability and field, and to systems that providing cooperation to volunteer organizations coordinating matching between them, also to systems that receiving sales availability information and purchase wish information of local products and presenting them in the form that being arranged by each items of goods, sale prices and selling places, further to systems that issuing and settling the regional currency when issuing the following regional currency.
4. REGIONAL CURRENCY
There is a need to issue regional currency to build a local community. This is because, in legal currencies, pursuit of profit becomes self-purpose, or even if it does not intend to do so, it will be strongly influenced or dominated by the economic system because of being directly connected to such economic system, as a result at least it will be becoming to deny the community activities, and it is impossible to revitalize a new community. Here, the regional currency is one having the characteristics that (1) distribution is limited to the region, (2) no interest, no capitalization, (3) liquidity privilege is not large, and basically it is one promoting reciprocity by exchanging "donation" at in a wide and shallow relationship.
After all under the social division of labor system, money (funds) is necessary to execute production (value production) as an industry, and it can not refuse to be required premium (interest) for borrowing the money. Because money has a high liquidity privilege of being able to exchange anything at any time, it is in a position advantageous to other goods, so ownership of value chunks having the liquidity privilege gives a privileged position and power. Interest (basic interest) is a liquidity premium of money.
On the other hand, in the currency (regional currency) as an exchange medium to be exchanged within the local community, liquidity premium is not accrued because of a mechanism that the liquidity secures through exchange of information on the regional platform, in addition it is natural not to put in interest since the currency have sufficient profit by keeping its face value as compared with the fact that value of goods and information declines with time, so it does not need to add interest to the currency. In some cases, minus money (not 'debt') holding may be tolerated as the money is based on trust. Also, the regional currency is only an simple exchange medium, so possession of money does not have any special meaning to economic power and status.
In addition, against that the current legal currency "is acts like a pump sucking up the stock from money earn region and injecting into money more increasable region","it is important to maintain the liquidity of the local economy by geographically limiting the distribution range of money, the regional currency will be able to stop that income revenue obtained in the region flow out to the outside. If there is the regional currency and its distribution urging mechanism is incorporated, it will be able to revitalize the regional economy to a great extent." (Reference⑥: Margrit Kennedy, "regional currency as a complementary currency"), and the regional currency is recognized that "it contribute to dig up the human resources and make the human resources networking, and is suitable tool to expand the network and realize the regional revitalization." (Reference⑥: NPO Tamba Development Projects Chairperson Toshiko Akai, "regional currency nurture social capital"). Thus, it is possible to make a high autonomy region with revitalizing the regional circulation by digging ability of people, information and resources, etc with taking advantage of the regional currency.
In addition, it is recognized that the formation of a "new local community" lowers internal costs, increases competitiveness to the outside, thereby creating an advantageous means of exchanges with the outside, and revitalizing it externally. But, products and services are cheap for internal distribution and if they can be sold at higher price in the outside, it is trying to sell outside, as a result one thing bivalent fails. Therefore, a regional currency for distribution within the region is necessary. Different currency, namely regional currency than the legal currency is necessary to establish a single bivalent state with different prices between the community and the external market.
However, it is not to impossibly try to distribute regional currency, but to construct a system that needs regional currency. It is vital to produce a situation that is inconvenient not having own regional currency, by setting up a system that requires regional currency for the exchange of goods and services and various payments and doing economic activities rooted in the area. Conversely, in regions that do not have such a system, unless they have many products suitable for exchanges with legal currency, it is only a matter of getting into poverty.
By the way, there are already many issuing examples of regional currencies. A general regional currency is regarded as one that is enriching people's lives by promoting smooth distribution of goods and services (value) not riding on a commercial basis (market economy) such as a small amount of demand, a limited area, being between "reciprocity" and "merchandise trading",etc. For example, "Eco Money" advocated by Mr. Toshiharu Kato is "a means to distribute in a variety of ways values such as environment, welfare, community, education, culture etc, which are difficult to evaluate in current currency, through mutual exchange among members of the community", "Means (money) to smoothly distribute (mutual exchange) the value not riding in the market circulation". Also, there are regional currencies like "LETS" that were conceived and realized under the circumstances where legal currencies do not circulate due to a major depression and currencies distributed within the region are needed.
However, the regional currency should not be limited to the value which does not get on the market, it should be expanded more widely, and it should be a means to smoothly circulate "value" created and produced by the local community in the region, being not carried on "market circulation" outside the community. The state where regional currency is required despite the legal currency being distributed is possible to consider the state where people and information are connected on the regional platform and when distributing "value" within the regional platform the regional currency is used naturally. Specifically, the providers of goods and services announce on the regional platform with a selling price, the buyers announce with buying price, then settles by negotiated transaction on the regional platform. By doing this, it is considered that the regional platform will be used within the region to promote closer and fulfilling exchanges, and the need for regional currencies will increase. Thus, the regional platform is used as a means for efficiently exchanging goods and services, and the regional currency fulfills the mediation of the exchange, which will result in the revitalization of the local community.
It is best to issue this regional currency by the municipality himself which is the local community, and the local community and its regional platform have secured "trust" by manifestation of name, regional currencies based on the "trust" is right and proper to be issued only as digital money to be settled by exchanging data between accounts. Furthermore, in order to promote the wide circulation of regional currencies, it is preferable to make a part of payment by local governments at least welfare projects in regional currency. In recent years, there are situations in which the influence of private enterprises entering the field and the penetration of market economy is worried about the volunteer economy ("reciprocity" and "trust relationship") in the welfare field, but it should be possible to oppose that by regional currency. Rather, by limiting to distribution in regional currency, private business operators will be similar to NPLLC (Limited Liability Company having Non-Profit clause in the articles of association) because it becomes non-profit distribution. The expansion of the distribution of regional currency brings about the development of the local community, the local community and the regional currency mutually act together to expand and develop together. In addition, the regional currency carry out function to brew a sense of unity in the local community (Sense of community), while at the same time the expansion and development of the local community will universalize the distribution of regional currency.
An example of a more specific method of issuing a regional currency will be described below: deposit a part of budget such as welfare budget to the issuing agency of the local currency established in the local government, request the individuals and companies to donate (including hometown tax payment) and deposit the deposited legal currency to the issuing authority, and the issuing authority issues the regional currency twice of the deposited legal currency as collateral. In this way, the local government can provide regional currencies equal in value to the donation amount for donors and use the same amount of regional currency for welfare, doubling the welfare budget and securing the issue volume of regional currencies.
The donor can use the received regional currency equivalent to donation amount for purchasing local products and services, or donate it to various projects. Companies and stores receive regional currency as commodity price for at least local products and make available for procurement and purchase of local products at low cost by using regional currency. Furthermore, for local peoples employment of shops, businesses and local government officials, pay part of wages in regional currency, for temporary employment and silver talented personnel pay whole of wages in regional currency. Tax payment to the municipality is also allowed to be paid in regional currency. Regional currency can be converted into legal currency, but donations can not be converted into legal currency and donators can only convert regional currency exceeding the donation amount into legal currency.
When actually issuing the local currency, it is necessary to clear the following regulation law. Therefore, at least the local currency will be issued as digital money.
① Law relating to regulation of prepaid form certificates (Not apply for ≤ 6 months of validity, but for "structural reform special zones" not apply without period of time)
② Banknotes similar securities control law (not applicable to electromagnetic records)
③ Financial Settlement Act (Issuing Concept of Article 3.2)
④ Investment law (in case of deposit)
⑤ Banking Law (in case of similar to foreign exchange transaction)
5. REFORMATION OF ADMINISTRATION AND PARLIAMENT
In the basic municipality as a local community, it is necessary to change the administration, to eliminate the governance function of providing the citizen (private) with services from above or from outside, and to be constructed as a new community management organization. Administration, that is, the governance organs that manages individual disjointed citizens and provides necessary public services, will change to something which is inherently different from the administration externally opposed to the citizen, becoming an internal organization by the establishment of the local community.
The administration is positioned as a standing secretariat for conducting projects to create an environment in which the "field" of the community functions, specifically, for example it is administered by the executive board, which is composed of the chief and the executive director. The chief is the representative of the community and at the same time the head of the executive board and is elected by election. The executive director is appointed by the chief, and each executive director takes charge of each department of the secretariat and supervises each. The executive director can concurrently serve as the general manager of the department in charge. If the chief resigns, the executive director will resign at the same time. In the secretariat of basic municipality for the affairs and projects of each of departments such as education, welfare, industry, environment, finance and general affairs, the administrative affairs and projects consigned by the upper municipalities such as the national and prefectural governments have to be conducted merely as they are, but the others should be considered over once more as collaborative affairs and projects in the local community.
Education - It should organize volunteer organizations that carry out extracurricular lessons, temporary lecturer dispatching, lectures, learning cram school and learning courses at the cultural center by free of charge or at a low price. Also promote to replace teaching materials with tablet. Also, It should try to utilize the vacant classroom in the area. Furthermore, It is preferable to create a "Regional Management School" (Reference Mitaka City) by a school management council that cooperatively manages elementary and junior high schools in the region.
Welfare - It should attempt to operate coordination systems of social welfare council, social workers, child consultation office, various works, volunteer organizations and others and to adjust fund allocation.
Industries - It should attempt to activate various groups of commerce (commodities manufacturing and distribution), civil engineering construction, agriculture and forestry industry, and promote mutual exchanges between them, and raise the momentum of town omission by seeking collaborative work crossing fields.
Environment - It is preferable to attract processing plants that achieve recycling through advanced processing in consultation with residents in the neighborhood, while strongly suppressing sales within the region of easy processing plants of industrial waste. Also it is preferable to aim at self-sufficiency model area independent of nuclear power and fossil fuel, by working on waste power generation, woody biomass power generation, solar power generation using cultivation abandoned land, hydrogen production by excessive electric power generation and hydrogen power generation system.
Finance - It should conduct practice of budget and settlement, municipal bond management, and regional currency management.
General Affairs - it should oversee the administration of the secretariat and the regional platform management and regional cooperation.
On the operation of these departments it can efficiently and smoothly activate by doing operation using regional currency. It will increase the degree of freedom of activities and revitalize activities of the volunteer organization and welfare projects by stoping payment of subsidies to volunteer organizations and forming a voucher system which pays local currency to beneficiaries and the beneficiaries pays local currency as a return for services received. In addition,, as much as possible, beneficiaries of volunteer activities also receive local currency by working in volunteer organizations etc. instead of merely receiving regional currency and pay regional currency for receiving other services.
Also, municipal assembly needs to change as a matter of course. The assembly is composed of the same number or twice as many executive directors as members (inspection directors) appointed by the elections, and have functions as a coordinator to connect community members and executive directors and functions as an audit board for auditing the executive board. Assemblyman (audit director) shoulders roles to listen to requests for individuals and organizations forming the community especially departments in charge, to verify the state of activity, to coordinate with the executive director, and to contrive necessary measures, and plays a role of controlling the death of whether or not the community functions as a community. Also, assemblyman conduct proposals and discussions of strategic policies and plans for the chiefs and the executive board, establish necessary regulations, and approve the budget and the settlement of accounts, with conducting general verification and evaluation of community activities as a member of the audit board.
Assemblyman (audit director) participate as an observer at the executive board to effectively conduct the audit and express their opinions. Conversely, when municipal assembly examines and evaluates the projects operated by the executive board each year, the chief and executive directors can participate as observers and express their opinions. In addition, the municipal assembly resolves confidence and no confidence of the executive board or individual executive director each year, in the case of no confidence the chief and executive director resigns, and in the case of no confidence of the chief, the chief election is carried out, but at the same time the audit board (municipal assembly) which passed the vote of no confidence also dissolve, and also elect municipal assembly election. The budget is organized by the executive board and presented to municipal assembly, it is a real free pass, grasping the contents of the expenditure in the budget as the start data of the audit, confirming and verifying the budget execution process, the settlement is verified rigorously according to the substance and verified the consistency with the overall strategy.
6. IN CONCLUSION
By building the "new local community" through the formation of regional platforms and the issue of regional currencies and revolutionizing the administration and municipal assembly so as to conform to it, it is possible to revitalize the local community, and it can maintain a stable autonomous regional economy even if the financial system of global financial capitalism falls into a crisis situation. Of course, the local community naturally is not insulated and isolated from the outside world, and there are various communities around the local community, such as other local communities, the producer enterprise community, the social activity community, but by building regional platforms, they are widely collaborating via that network and they are connected to the global world through them. However, independence and autonomy of local communities are the principle, and broad-area governance should be limited to those corresponding to the necessity of solution of wide-area issues that can not be solved in the region. The wide area governance organization will spread to local governments (prefectures or states that will be established in the future), the national government organization, and international organizations that respond to the spread of regional culture and economic sphere. In addition, it is considered that the Doshu system will not be established as effectively functioning unless the local government comprising this local community establishes.
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