take another look at demurrage currencies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demurrage_(currency) *

This was submitted two years ago but didn't spark any discussion. I thought the popularity of this post might be an opportunity to discuss some very interesting but perhaps counter-intuitive solutions to the issues raised there. To summarize, demurrage is the opposite of usury aka interest (money loses value over time, rather than gains it), it characterized the first currencies in medieval Europe, and it promotes wealth equity way more than usurious currencies, which is why the powers that be have historically tried to eliminate it. Thoughts?

An article that looks at the history of demurrage currencies in greater depth than Wikipedia. Here is the key idea:

To remain valid, each piece of this locally-issued currency required a monthly stamp costing 1% of its face value. Instead of generating interest and growing, accumulation of wealth became a burden—much like possessions are a burden to the nomadic hunter-gatherer. People therefore spent their income quickly, generating intense economic activity in the town. The [local] unemployment rate plummeted even as the rest of the country slipped into a deepening depression; public works were completed, and prosperity continued until the Worgl currency was outlawed in 1933 at the behest of a threatened central bank.

*I have trouble getting the contextual links to work with Wikipedia addresses with parentheses in them.