Binn-Coin

There's a mad rush to crypto-currency and just a mad frothing on the part of bankers alarmed by the tsunami like surge in interest. Even the roulette wheels of casino investing are in on it, artificially driving up the price through the speculative roof of the world wide bubble economy. We hear of Bitcoin, Litecoin and a host of others, seemingly popping up like crabgrass on the well manicured and controlled lawn of finacialization. These are fuelled by those who refuse to go quietly into the sunset of bankruptcy. With corruption rifling the economy as a whole, we now hear of corruption in the make believe world of crypto-currencies with stories like Mt. Gox and Silk Road where the principal investor runs with the crypto at high value, cashes it in for fiat currency and then executes a carry trade manoeuvre and disappears altogether. But, there is a type of crypto-currency that has been quietly in operation for decades, long before we ever head of a world wide economic meltdown in the post modern era of finicialized corruption and that currency is BINN-COIN!

What is Binn-coin? Like modern crypto-currencies, with Binn-Coin, there is mining going on and it does hold its value. It is somewhat open ended insofar as long as supply keeps up from the consumer end. There is very little software involved, but it is highly competitive where it is accepted as a viable alternative currency. We have been watching it going on for decades and since the post bubble burst 2008 era, it has become a 24-7 operation. Binn-coin is as the name implies. It is obtained strictly by mining dumpsters when folks carelessly dump recyclable cans, bottles and cartons. Though consumers pay a recycling fee at the store for soda or juice and/or liquor outlets at the time of purchase, many just dump the empty containers into the common trash. A few will place them in the appropriate recycle bins and fewer hold onto them as a closed loop mining operation. Meanwhile, an army of miners operates continually, scouring every place that these substitute currency items show up in order to procure them and then turn them in to pay for items like groceries, tobacco, liquor or anything else where they will be accepted just like any appropriate fiat currency, or for that matter, even crypto-currencies. Anyone in a decaying post industrial de-development regions can see them with shopping carts or bike buggies rattling and kinking their way along any back lane or place lined with dumpsters and bins any day and any time, rain, snow, sleet or the heat of noon day summer sun. Binn-coin has been the currency choice of those who lack the elusive fiat currency that is tightly controlled by the world elite. A few do very well with it, while most eke out a living getting by between that and food hand outs.

Somewhat like gold, they hold their value as long as the glass ones remain intact. They are thus, not fungible, but they are otherwise like money insofar as they can be used in direct exchange for wanted commodities. Unlike fiat currency, they are not subject to backwardation or contango. Other than protecting one's large and obvious collection, it is not subject to the manipulations that are rife with fiat currencies and now cryto-currencies. Sometimes competitors will attempt to pilfer the work of others with the result that a fight will break out upon discovery of the attempted theft. At any time, one can see miners half buried in their work, with a cart of some kind near by, laden with industrial strength plastic disposal bags and a growing pile of newly found recyclables jettisoning out of the dumpster being mined. The best in their field know when locked up dumpsters will be pulled out for emptying by city trash collector trucks and will time their arrival in order to mine the contents. They do quite well as can be seen of the intrepid miner tossing out containers at the rate of about one every other second. Some people recognizing the financial plight of others will pre-bundle items and deposit them near dumpsters for easy pick-up. That way, the miner does not have to paw their way through the hazards such as spent hypodermic needles and cat faeces. There are some who pick up only pre-bundled items. Timing is critical! These individual items will fetch anywhere from $.05 to $.20 CDN in most Canadian cities. A few will pay out as much as $1.00 CDN. Rating and how they are processed differ from region to region, but the drill is essentially the same.

What some consider to be worthless garbage, because they are too busy chasing the fiat currencies of their perspective employment, others search it out like gold and a few make a descent living. Like any other financial hierarchy, a multi-teired bureaucracy has mushroomed. Several decades ago, Senator Eugene McCarthy opined; “The communists will have you digging through garbage for a living!” Since the collapse of that kingpin communist empire, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) beginning in 1989 and culminating in 1992, the digging through garbage for a living has intensified, and not because of communism, but a variety of other factors within the confines of the capitalist regions. McCarthy was in part right; he just got the economics fudged. After 1991, the economy moved sharply away from Keynesian fixes to Friedman's shock doctrine.

Since the crash of 2008 and on, the industrial world has been gutted in favour of the cheaper labour in the developing world and the mining for anything recyclable has intensified. It is no longer limited to beer, wine, liquor, juice, water and soda cans and bottles, but now includes copper and other metals taken from dumped electronics. Some folks driven by desperation will even remove charged copper lines in factories, abandoned buildings, power lines, street lamp standards and from underground transformers, sometimes with shocking results. Iron used to be valued and whole manhole covers would disappear, and so would unwary pedestrians unfortunate enough to plunge into the now uncovered sewers. Fortunately, iron and aluminium have dropped in value and this practice seems to have ceased for the moment. Copper remain a hot commodity! If one night your lights go out and you can no longer read this on your now dead computer, but your electrical bill is paid up to date, then copper mining/theft is likely the cause.

Then there is the moving day bonanza! This is not binn-coin mining per-say, but plenty of high cost items can be found for free that in some cases would cost a king's ransom brand new and be out of the reach of most of us. When people move, they often leave a lot behind, often due to being forced to travel a long distance and/or into smaller digs. It is amazing what one can find at the middle and end of every month year round. Some folks, like the author, have furnished their entire living quarters with anything from leather couches to working appliances, top quality furniture, antiques, great books, working lamps, crockery sets, healthy house plants and much more. Again; it is amazing what people toss out! Much of this requires no more effort than to truck it from where it is found and into ones residence. If upon one day you see someone who appears to be perpetually moving out or in, though not actually moving, you may have spotted the author who is doing an upgrade.

In lieu of cash or crypto-currency, consider the BINN-COIN and the miners who dredge them up. While some create circles in the floor where they pace out in worry due to job loss and bankruptcy, others jump into the fray and find a virtual gold mine of items for the taking that some of the worriers toss out. Some will sell them to others in lawn sales, flea markets or even online through e-bay. That fancy item you just obtained through e-bay? It might have been a cast-a-way! By the way, the author has found plenty of T-shirts, but none that say BINN-COIN.