The survey on a Vashon credit union is making the rounds of our e-mail boxes. Hallelujah.

A credit union of our very own could be a major defense against hyperinflation, the often mentioned dominant result of the coming home to roost of the Wall Street credit default swap chickens.

But how a credit union might defend us is not obvious, for a thin dollar is a thin dollar in any bank, so let’s therefore propose such a defense. The membership of the union would constitute a ready-made exchange for a local currency, that’s how.

The reasoning here is that a credit-clearing exchange runs on trust, and the membership of the credit union would be disposed to trust each other, that’s why. For details, see any good book on money as credit not debt.

— Tom Herring