Disrupting traditional markets can have the goal of creating alternative economic structures or subverting traditional methods of exchange. The largest and oldest alternative currency in the country is the Ithaca Hour, which circulates around Ithaca, New York. 10 “hours” is equivalent to one hour of labor. It is very interesting to think of work and reward in such a different sense. It makes everyone’s hour of effort, whether you’re a garbage collector or a prominent lawyer, equally valued. Although there is only $110,000 floating around the New York community, this is enough that it can be used for daily purchases such as at grocery stores or barbershops. Another form of currency that combines technology and social media platforms is Venmo in which users can connect their bank accounts to the app and pay or charge friends. Not only can you make a statement with your payment in the form of a status, but it also makes exchange easy is and convenient at the touch of the button making physical currency unnecessary. In contrast, Lucio Urtubia Jimenez sought to undermine the current capitalist system by forging bank checks and conducting robberies. Only his closest friends knew of his illicit print shop and he was never imprisoned because h did not use the forged notes to benefit himself. The Mooc describes how this is similar to the Black Panthers’ attempts to use robberies to feed the money back into society rather than to benefit themselves.
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