Ithaca's new HOURly minimum wage lifts the lowest paid up without knocking down higher wages. These farmers benefit by the HOUR's loyalty to local agriculture. Every eight months they may apply to be paid an additional HOUR, as reward for continuing participation. This is how we gradually and carefully increase the per capita supply of our money. HOUR Town's 1,500 listings, rivalling the Yellow Pages, are a portrait of our community's capability, bringing into the marketplace time and skills not employed by the conventional market.
Residents are proud of income gained by doing work they enjoy.
We encounter each other as fellow Ithacans, rather than as winners and losers scrambling for dollars. The success stories of 300 participants published so far testify to the acts of generosity and community that our system prompts. We're making a community while making a living. As we do so, we relieve the social desperation which has led to compulsive shopping and wasted resources. At the same time Ithaca's locally-owned stores, which keep more wealth local, make sales and get spending power they otherwise would not have.