Although the official currency of the United States is the U.S. dollar, some towns and cities actually issue their own money. In these communities, consumers are able to buy local currency at a discounted rate using U.S. dollars (for example, a consumer may spend 95 U.S. cents to buy one local dollar, thereby receiving a 5 percent discount), and then can spend the local currency at stores that have agreed to accept it. The idea is to help local consumers save money and at the same time give local businesses a boost. These local currencies are being issued in communities as diverse as small towns in North Carolina and Massachusetts to cities as large as Detroit, Michigan. Do these local currencies qualify as money based on the description of what money is in the chapter?