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July 9, 2014 Written
by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews
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Have a great celebration for the 4th of July from
BarterNews
From the desk of Bob Meyer...
07/09/2014
Americans View Of Saving Sees Dramatic Change
The 2007-09 recession was the worst downturn since the
Great Depression in the 1930s, and has wrought a similar
effect on spending habits. In a recent Gallup poll,
Americans said they preferred saving to spending 62% to 34%,
the widest margin since Gallup began asking the question in
2001.
New California Law Accepts
Alternative Currencies
A new law has
been signed by California Governor Jerry Brown that will
accommodate the growing use of alternative payment methods
such as Bitcoin. Prior to the new law people using digital
currencies, community currencies and reward points (Amazon's
Coins and Starbucks' Stars), were in violation of the law
but not penalized.
In March, the U.S. Internal
Revenue Service said it would treat Bitcoin as a form of
property for tax purposes, rather than currency, making it
subject to similar rules as stocks and barter transactions.
Student Loan Debt Now Tops Credit Card &
Auto Loan Debt
Topping a trillion
dollars with no end in sight, the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau says student loans in the U.S. are now
greater then credit card debt and auto loan debt.
Middle-aged Americans — those aged 40 to 49 —
are struggling the most with their debt payments; their
delinquency rate (making no payments for 90 days) is 11.9%.
That compares with a rate of 8.7% for borrowers of all ages.
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(The
following articles were submitted by IRTA.)
IRTA Receives Favorable Opinion From California
Commissioner
The global proliferation of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies
has caused many governmental agencies to review their financial
code sections that relate to money transmission reporting
requirements.
Since
the FinCEN advisory was released last year, there has been great
concern and confusion in the barter industry. Some state
governments are reviewing their own codes. There is concern that
such reviews might result in new code revisions that could be
written in a manner so as to restrict, or even eliminate the
organized barter business model in multiple jurisdictions.
In the
spring of 2014, the International Reciprocal Trade Association
(IRTA) became aware of the State of California's intent to
revise their Money Transmission Act, (MTA), Financial Code
Section 2000. IRTA initiated contact with the California
Department of Business Oversight, (CDBO), and then submitted its
position and explanation on why barter exchanges are not
Bitcoin-like crypto-currencies, and as such should not be
covered by the California MTA.
(Click here to
read IRTA's April 25, 2014 letter to the CNBO.)
On June 26, 2014, CDBO Commissioner,
Jan Lynn Owen, and Senior Legal Counsel, Jennifer Rumberger,
Esq. wrote IRTA to confirming "barter exchanges do not need to
be licensed under the CA Money Transmitter Act."
Commissioner Owen and Senior Counsel
Rumberger based their opinion on the following important points:
1) Since barter exchanges act as third party record keepers,
they do not "receive money for transmission," 2) barter
exchanges are not an "issuer of stored value," and 3) barter
exchange trade credits are not redeemable for cash.
(Click here to
read the CDBO's June 26, 2014 opinion letter to IRTA.)
IRTA
President Annette Riggs reiterated the importance of the CBDO's
opinion regarding barter exchanges not falling under the
California Money Transmitter Act by saying:
"IRTA
was assured from FinCEN last year that their advisory on Money
Transmitter reporting requirements was not
intended to include the barter
industry. The recent reviews by various states required us to
pay close attention to how the state codes are being written.
The response that IRTA received from the CBDO sets an important
precedent and makes a clear distinction between the barter
industry and the growing crypto-currency sector that is required
to meet reporting requirements as Money Transmitters.
"All
member agreements and methodologies that trade/barter exchanges
use need to be in accordance with our status as third-party
record keepers. The upcoming 35th Annual Convention in
Cancun, September 25 - 27 will be a great opportunity to discuss
this in detail and review the model contract that IRTA is
revising to assure that exchanges do not compromise the legal
status obtained in 1982 in the TEFRA Act."
(For more information on IRTA and the convention, see below.)
# # # #
IRTA Releases Cancun Grand Oasis
Convention Program Schedule
IRTA has released its program schedule
for its 35th International Convention, held this year at the
beachfront Grand Oasis Resort & Spa on September 25 through 27.
The convention schedule emphasizes new barter organization
models, including cutting edge complementary currency systems
and hybrid programs that are fast taking hold worldwide.
Additional seminars will focus on
IRTA's deficit advisory positions, the latest developments in
Bitcoin and crypto-currency rulings, the IRS's latest stance on
1099B's for pass-through entities, sales and broker
training/techniques, plus managing real estate trade and other
high ticket items.
IRTA's Executive Director Ron Whitney
said, "IRTA has been very busy advocating for all segments of
the barter industry, and the fruits of that pro-active advocacy
work are readily apparent by the quality level of programming we
have scheduled for this year's big Cancun convention.
"Our conventions are all about learning
the latest trends and issues that effect our industry —
there's no better place to access that important information
than an IRTA convention. Plus, there simply isn't a better
networking event in the business, with 120 to 150 attendees from
around the globe congregating in Cancun. So plan on attending —
you owe it to your business, your employees and your
members!"
(To review
the IRTA Grand Oasis Cancun Convention schedule, click here,
and to register for the convention, click here.)
For more information on the upcoming
convention, contact either Executive Director Ron Whitney at ron@irta.com or 757-393-2292, or
Project Manager Patty Weston at patty@irta.com
or 407-951-6797.
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Local
Community Interaction Key To Future Prosperity
Thomas H. Greco Jr., author of Money &
Debt, A Solution To The Global Crisis, stresses that the world has
changed and local community interaction is the key to future
prosperity in today's unraveling economy. Greco, who has been a
keynote speaker at IRTA's annual convention, says we're now in the
early stages of "the great unraveling." And the means to restoring
resilience to our communities is taking action.
There's a
need to share, cooperate, and organize as never before — spend
locally, save locally, and invest locally. Greco proposes we need to
apply our dollar resources to projects that:
-
Make the local community more
self-reliant.
-
Provide greater local security in food,
energy, housing, water and other necessities of life.
-
Improve the overall quality of life.
-
Protect our savings against inflation of
the dollar.
Greco also articulated that we must reduce our
dependence upon banks and conventional money, by organizing private
exchange systems that can be networked together to provide an
interest-free and inflation-free means of payment while making
credit reliably available to local productive enterprises.
Editor's note: In book, Money & Debt, he pointed out that the
compound growth of debt would eventually exceed the capacity of the
real economy to bear it.
For more information, see Greco's
blog
beyondmoney.net and his web site
www.reinventingmoney.com.
The Growth and Use of Secondary
Capital (New Money) Creates Unprecedented Wealth In Today's New Age
Of Possibility
There are many forms of secondary
capital — which can be defined as any financial instrument that
measures and communicates value in a common language. Would you like
to see and learn more about the many forms of secondary capital?
We have 70 free, informative and
inspiring, articles for you in our "Secondary Capital Section."
Check it out...
www.barternews.com/secondary_capital.htm.
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