Hobo Union

We are a loose-knit organization that supports the unionization process of workers in all workplaces, especially"gig economy" workers, while supporting each other directly by using the alternative currency "Hobo Cash" to supply a Universal Basic Income for all of us hobos.

Union Solidarity

The idea of a "Hobo Union" is not new. When jobs are hard to come by, hobos get together and use people power to push for change in a variety of ways. Often, it's to shift the political climate to make it easier for them to get jobs. We do this by supporting the process of unionizing in various workplaces that we don't work at. Our strength is that we can't be fired or easily retaliated against by the corporation for talking to the workers about the idea of unionizing, since we don't work there. We also have the time to focus on these things, since less of our time is tied up in trying to make money (especially since we have Hobo Cash, now).

To contact us, email hobounion@proton.me and we'll get back to you within a week.

Not A Charity

The current economic paradigm inevitably creates a growing divide between rich and poor, and to a great extent the same governing bodies which claim to regulate industry have become funded by, and come under the control of, the very industries they sought to regulate.

In the meantime, the well-meaning people who have benefitted from this growing divide continue to help the poor through the Charity Model.

Hobo Cash

Hobo Cash is a time-based alternative currency.
Hobo Cash is inspired by the original Hobo Nickel from the 1930s.
Hobo Cash is something that was created quite recently, taking lessons from many experiments in alternative currencies that came before it.

Hobo Cash is deceptively simple. Like any sane currency, it needs something of real value behind it. In this case, that value is "time".

Time is Money

We say "time is money". Indeed, you must spend your time to earn money. However, this system has led to a growing difference in how much we value different people's time.

"In October 2021, Business Insider reported that Jeff Bezos earns approximately $2,537 per second in total. That is over half of what the average USA full-time worker makes in a month, in a single second.

Jeff Bezos earns, in a day, what the average person with a decent-paying job earns in an entire month. That means, even if you have a full-time job, our current world economic system values your time as 1/30th as valuable as Jeff Bezos' time. But how can that be? Isn't our time priceless? This is our lifetime we're talking about. Why should one person have a demeaning "gig economy" job where they make $15 in six hours (true story), when other people are making hundreds of dollars in the same amount of time?

However, there are a couple curious inconsistencies with the idea that "time is money". For instance, if the unemployed aren't busy working, and have lots of free time on their hands, why do they have so much trouble trying to turn that time into money?

With Hobo Cash, anyone can literally turn their time into money. And anyone can literally make money! And that money is then valued as the time it took to make it. Usually in five minute pieces.

"A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

Making Hobo Cash

Taking lessons from the successes of bitcoin, Hobo Cash can be "minted" by anyone.

Taking lessons from the failures of Bitcoin, the "minting" of Hobo Cash doesn't require anything that costs money, like expensive processors. If you need money to make money, it isn't leveling the playing field - Bitcoin is just decentralizing and immortalizing a system of credit. That puts the minting of money in the hands of people who already have money, which is the opposite of what Hobo Cash is trying to do. The minting of Hobo Cash only requires a piece of paper, and time - something hobos have lots of.