In Detroit, Cheers

A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.

[From Communities print own currencies to keep cash flowing - USATODAY.com]

"Similar, I think, to the currency the Curmudgeon-in-Chief uses to pay his staff," says Midwest Bureau Cub Reporter Paul Knue. In fact, Yet Another Media Empire uses virtual currency, which is to say it exists in the realm of fantasy.