An alternative economic plan: THE COOK PLAN

Non-taxable vouchers should be issued at the rate of $1,000 per month per adult and $500 per month per child which may be used for food, housing, fuel, communications media, utilities, and educational services provided at outlets within the U.S. Distribution of vouchers may be delegated to state and local governments.

Vouchers will be deposited by service providers and vendors only in a new network of local chartered savings banks-one for each county in the U.S. Deposits will be made to the bank in the county of the local point-of-sale.

Banks will lend locally at zero-percent interest using voucher deposits as capitalization. The banks may create loans at a 1:10 reserve ratio with borrowers paying administrative fees only. Borrowers must provide a 20% down payment as collateral or purchase default insurance at 2% of the loan principal.

Lending will be made only to business entities, including family or commercial farms, operating from an established location within the county.

This system will create a grassroots "bottom-up" economic infrastructure to parallel the "top-down" Federal Reserve System which is collapsing. Transfers between local savings banks and the banks of the Federal Reserve System will be denominated in U.S. dollars with vouchers redeemed within the banking system.

The system could be implemented within a matter of weeks through seed-money provided by the federal government. It could be replicated by any other nation.

It is requested that readers give this plan the widest possible distribution.

Copyright 2008 by Richard C. Cook

Richard C. Cook is a former U.S. federal government analyst, whose career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury Department. His book on monetary reform, entitled We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform, will soon be published. His website is www.richardccook.com. Comments or requests to be added to his mailing list may be sent to EconomicSanity@gmail.com. View his You Tube speeches.