This chart show the amount of Dollars flowing into and out of the Dollar Pool — either through transfers to or from a participant's bank account OR through trade with another community. Exports bring Dollars in from another Common Good Community. Imports send Dollars out to another Common Good community.
The "demand" for Common Good credit is the net amount of US Dollars people want to trade for Common Good credit. As long as people have plenty of places to spend within the Common Good system, they will generally keep moving money in. So the demand gives us a pretty reliable measure of the system's soundness.
We can keep issuing Common Good credit (in exchange for Dollars or as negative account balances) as long as there is a net inflow of US Dollars (more green than orange on the chart — an increasing demand). If members need to make more purchases outside the Common Good network and are taking more US Dollars out of the system than they are putting in (a decreasing demand), then we must temporarily slow down issuing Common Good credit. So when the community's demand is negative three months in a row, the system automatically alerts the Common Good Community's administrators, who can put a temporary ban on spending below a zero balance.
Transfers from a Common Good Account to a bank account often reflect an incomplete economic circle. That is, the individual or company moving Common Good credit to a bank account does not yet have enough places to spend them. Generally, this means they are spending them outside the community (and outside the Common Good system). This is an opportunity for import-replacement — starting new local businesses (or expanding existing businesses) to supply goods or services not currently produced in our region.
How low our total monthly volume of outward transfers is, is a measure of how well we are doing as a community in our progress toward a sustainable local economy.
As an individual, you can help by finding ways to spend within the Common Good system, instead of transferring your funds to a bank account. For all the money that circulates within the system, we can use Common Good credit, freeing up that many US Dollars to use for something else. So, in effect, when you can keep money in the system, we are all that much richer.
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