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The Eye Are Us will require taxes from enumerated "contributors" (via FICA) who barter, because their labor and property was already pledged as collateral.
However, those who are not participants can barter, as a right not subject to an excise tax.
As to private promissory notes / coupons, they are superior to money tokens, because they can accurately reflect the volume of goods and services in the marketplace. And once tendered for discharge, they are extinguished. Coupons neither inflate nor deflate, nor incur compound interest. A coupon denominated in one MickyD burger is worth exactly one burger when tendered.
I was listening to a podcast today where a survivor of the Third Balkan War was speaking about how everything turned upside down literally overnight. Barter was the only medium of exchange available.
You have 50 lbs of rice; great for bartering when no one else has rice. But if you cannot grow more rice, then you are better off not bartering it away... unless you barter it for seeds and/or a plot of wet land to grow rice.
Most people looking to barter would not have the first clue how to prepare many grains (not realizing it's not so hard), or they would not know what to do with them in a disaster without the means to cook (or, should I say, the know-how). Storing grains is thus a good thing, with not a huge worry of them being stolen.
10 gold bars cannot produce any more than what they are. You can use them -perhaps- to purchase things, but once they are gone, they are gone, and you can't make any more (unless you use them to buy a gold mine). I'm not saying money and gold are useless; they're not. But once you use them, they are gone. Same with gasoline, kerosene; anything that you cannot make more of, you should not barter, unless the exchange will keep you alive a little bit longer to get to where you can be productive. If the economy readjusts after 6 moths, and you only have 3 months of food, you will need to trade that gold or gasoline to survive those last three months. But... what if it doesn't reset in your 6-month time frame? Then you have nothing with which to barter.
Great points. In bartering, look to barter services, not essential goods. Barter childcare, animal care, engine fixing, mowing with hand mower/scything, house/roof repair, barnraising, etc. It takes so long to stock up on goods and so short a time for them to be gone.
The old saying about "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket" applies. Have things that may be valuable (gold, TP, fuel, whatever) 'in case'. Have other things that you and you alone will use. Have still other things that reproduce (goats, chickens, cows, heirloom seeds) or that you can create/make/repair/use indefinitely. And learn, hone and practice any skills that you have that may be usable in a barter economy.
Well said.
I do make a heck of a long-lasting woodstove fire, that can be used for cooking or heating - because I learned more about the chemical interaction of wood fires!
Please do tell, or DM me, I would like some tips on this.
Seems I read about some community that was experimenting with using a point system for bartered services (quick roof help 10 points, major roof help 50 points, that sort of thing). I wonder if it's really feasible within a spread out community.
With so many of us unable to find work, is there a way to barter our skills?
Absolutely! If you have a skill someone wants and they have something you want in return. It works even better when your skill is uncommon for the area or you're better/more honest than the competition. We've traded our business, technical and creative skills for necessities... "will work for food" isn't just a cardboard sign. I lived a year rent and utility free while remodeling and landscaping an old farmhouse for the owner. I've even gotten professional services in exchange for professional or creative services. Bartering skills is really no different than bartering goods, you just have to be willing to get out of the cash mentality and find others who are willing to as well.
Once you shift the paradigm of "time=money" and start thinking "time=needs", you're already well past half-way to self-sufficiency.
When all is said and done, there are very few life necessities that absolutely require cash. Most things you can provide for yourself or trade for locally... it's usually long-distance or corporate transactions that force you into cash land. A big power company might not take trade; but a small local utility co-op might, or someone local might trade you some solar panels or a generator... you'd have power either way. The bank might not take trade for your mortgage payment, but someone local might take trade for rent or personal sale. You just have to think outside the box... or, in this case, outside the wallet and checking account.
Yup. I'm a creative artist; and started out doing some graphic work, just little jobs I'd pick up here and there. I do menus for smaller restaurants, emergency cards, etc for groups, etc - just little things. It turned into my advertising business! That's gone now (by my choice) but I still trade menu work for restaurant meals, etc.
My 'hay guy' came out today and picked out a heifer and a bred cow for payment for last winter's and this upcoming winter's hay. Not only does this free up more pasture grazing for our other cattle in this drought, we won't have to feed two pregnant mamas all winter. Plus if the price of hay goes up this winter due to the drought, our hay is paid for. He's going to use them to feed the bucket calves he gets next spring, or he knows another guy (200 miles away) who breeds Dexters and he might sell them or x-breed them with him. He gets what he wants, and we get what we want. And his kids have little 'tame' cows to mess with instead of the big Angus they usually have to avoid. Not to mention that he has a trailer we borrow to take any other cattle to auction or butcher, because DH re-wired the trailer for him - he has brake and turn signals again!
Everything can be traded. You just have to know how to value what you have, and what the other person has.
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