User:Nick2196/sandbox

Local Farmer's Market

this is bold

Identity Politics Critique This article is well written and informative, but contains several issues. There are warning banners listed before the text begins, which a large red flag that the article contains problems. This banner states that the neutrality of the article has been disputed, the article possibly contains original research, its sources are unclear because it does not have proper inline citations. The article begins with what seems like a fairly short lead. The lead could be expanded upon to give the reader a better understanding of identity politics is in general. I did not come across any value statements in reading this article, which makes me question what neutrality issues were being disputed about this article. I did come across many issues regarding citations. There are several time throughout the article when "citation needed" is listed instead of a proper citation. I do not know why the writer was allowed to write something based on research without creating a proper citation, but this happens frequently. The sections "Nature of the movement", "LGBT issues", and "Shared identity" all seem too short and need to be added on to since these sections are important to understanding the relevance of identity politics in modern society. This is not a bad article, but it needs to be cleaned up and expanded upon. Nick2196 (talk) 06:55, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

I added the following sentences to the "Opposition to immigration" Wikipedia article under the "United States" section. "As of 2014, there were over 42.4 million immigrants living in the United States. This was about 13.3% of the entire United States population at the time."

Draft for article begins here:

Fiscal Localism

Fiscal localism is rooted in the concept of decentralization. The creation and maintenance of a regional economy is supported by communities who believe that their community is economically better off sustaining itself rather than being part of and relying upon a larger economy, such as a national economy or the global economy. This is a movement against the increasing globalization of all economies around the world. The main tenets of fiscal localism include buying products that are made locally and using a currency that is unique to that local economy. This allows a community to grow at a controllable and sustainable rate by supporting farmers, shopkeepers, and service providers of a community. Consumers in these communities are more informed about how their foods and products are grown and made. Using a unique form of currency allows a community to determine its economic growth and health more accurately than using metrics of a national economy to gauge economic health. Taxation in these communities is emphasized at the local level and low importance is put on local taxes. These communities want to separate themselves from the larger national economy so they must rely on revenue generated from local taxation. Banking is also preferred to be done on a local level. These communities would rather have one local bank than be a part of a massive bank that does business across the country as well as internationally.

Local Currency

Unique currencies used by local economies are often backed by a national currency. Totnes, England is a town that began using the Totnes Pound in 2010. "The Totnes Pound is backed by the British Pound sterling at a one-to-one ratio." The idea behind using a unique, local currency is to keep money flowing through the community while preventing money from leaving or relying on money to enter the community. This allows a community to become self-sufficient, have enough funds to create an energy source for the community to use, and eliminate transportation costs for bringing products into the community. A large reason Totnes wants to become self-sufficient is to decrease its dependence on the use of oil. The town believes that it is better off in the long run if it is able to operate without relying an oil, which is a finite resource. Multiple towns have followed in Totnes' footsteps and established a local currency. Brixton, Stroud, Bristol, and Exeter are towns in England that have established currencies of their own. A few towns in the United States have also adopted unique currencies. Berkshire, Massachusetts and Ithaca, New York have implemented Massachusetts BerkShares and the HOUR, respectively. While a BerkShare is worth $.95 US dollars, the HOUR is not convertible to US dollars or any other type of national currency. A British Quaker colony in Pennsylvania created and used the Pennsylvania Pound in the 18th century, but fiscal localism failed for the colony and the currency was abandoned. Lorenzo Fioramonti, director of the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, believes that the European Union would be more stable if it was comprised of multiple local currencies combined with a "digital euro".

Taxes

Proponents of fiscal localism argue that paying higher local taxes and lower national taxes will help communities grow and thrive. A report from The TaxPayers' Alliance states that a decentralized form of taxation leads to a more efficient public sector. This report references a German econometric study found that “government efficiency increase with the degree of fiscal decentralization” . Reasons used to support local taxation include responsiveness, cost efficiency, incentives, and accountability. The Spanish Institute Fiscal Studies conducted a study over a period stretching from 1972-2005 using data from 23 countries regarding taxes. The study found that “reducing the share of central government in total tax revenue by one percentage point boosts long-run GDP growth by about 0.06 per cent per annum.” Setting local taxes is complicated because too high of a tax rate will lead to taxpayers refusing to pay while too low of a rate will not give the local government enough funds to function and operate effectively. These taxes are separate from state and federal taxes and are not set at the state or federal level. Increasing local taxes allows a community to reinvest revenue generated from the taxes into public institutions or programs that help the local coomunity. Residents are able to see physically see and experience where their tax money is going and how it improves their lives.

Banks

Modern banks have become monolithic institutions with thousands of branches in their respective countries of service. This globalization of banking institutions and the banking practices used by these organizations is the antithesis of what fiscal localism is about. Toby Blume argues for a shift in the banking system in his essay "Changing the Debate: The Ideas Redefining Britain." Blume writes, "A more localised banking system - which is more common in other countries but we don't have in the UK - provides a way to connect surplus capital with with productive purpose (for the mutual benefit of savers/investors and borrowers)." Advocates for fiscal localism argue that the banking system should be restructured to accommodate the needs of smaller, local communities. These communities that are built around the tenants of fiscal localism want to have local banks that have consumer bases which are limited to the population that is geographically located around the bank. This allows the bank to know its customers on a personal level in order to determine the risk of giving a loan out to someone who lives in the community. It also allows the bank to use its excess capital to invest in services and businesses that are located in these towns, which in turn spurs the local economy at a consistent growth rate.

Local Exchange Trading Systems

A Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) is comprised of local members that want to trade goods and services with other members in the group. These LETS use a unique local currency on which all trade is based upon. Those who are in LETS believe that they benefit both the members and the local community due to the organized nature of these LETS. The five core traits of a LETS include “cost of service, consent, disclosure, equivalence to the regional currency, and interest-free.” Member transactions through a LETS do not have to be solely monetary. A purchase can be repaid through a service performed for the other member involved in the transaction.

Brexit

A recent, and perhaps the most widely known, push for fiscal localism occurred when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016. The European Union is an economic union that was formed in order to allow free movement of resources and capital between the countries that comprise the organization. Discussions of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union have gone on for many years, but was not made official until the public of the United Kingdom voted to leave. Many of those who were proponents of leaving the European Union wanted to do so for economic reasons. Nigel Farage, one of the most prominent endorsers of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, wrote, "We know that the European Union is hell bent on further, deeper centralisation." The disdain that Nigel Farage has for centralization is rooted in both economic and political reasons, but the economic reasons lie in his desire for increased fiscal localism. Many citizens of the United Kingdom share the same negative view of centralization. This resulted in the voting populace choosing to leave the European Union. This historic decision of the United Kingdom is an example of a community choosing to reject the increasing globalization of economic institutions and policies. However, many citizens of the United Kingdom did not want to leave the European Union. These opponents of Brexit preferred to remain in an organization that encouraged wealth and services to move freely among countries within the union. The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, said in April of 2016 that if the United Kingdom left the European Union, "There would be little we could do to stop discriminatory policies being introduced, and London's position as the world's leading financial centre would be in danger."

Other sources to be used: 1)https://sites.temple.edu/lawreview/files/2012/11/Parlow_Equitable-Fiscal-Regionalism.pdf 2)http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/2014/the-case-for-localism-in-one-chart/

Notes

Peer Editing Comments

1. The author's spelling, grammar, syntax, and word choice were good. 2. I understand basically what Fiscal Localism is. It seems to be a counter-movement in response to increasingly globalist fiscal stances taken by nations the world over. 3. While the author comes off as generally unbiased, since he is restating the thoughts and findings of others, this article would be more impartial if some of the drawbacks of Fiscal Localism were mentioned in brief. 4. The article flows well enough, but the paragraphs are not in chronological order in relation to how topics are listed in the first (presumably overview) paragraph, and the topic of taxation is not touched on at all in the first paragraph. I recommend a minor restructuring of paragraph order, and the addition of tax structure to the opening paragraph. 5. The author is defining Fiscal Localism and its main tenets. 6. I would be satisfied with what the author has written if I was looking to learn more about Fiscal Localism. The main tenets are laid out clearly, and the author provides sufficient examples of Fiscal Localism in practice. 7. There are no major problems with the author's draft. MakoTheShark (talk) 5:02, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

Response to Peer Editing Comments

To address possible biases, I will address drawbacks to fiscal localism in the final draft. I will also include the topic of taxation to the first paragraph and see if I can restructure the first paragraph to make the article flow better overall.