Have you thought about the barter system?

I don't know if this thread fits the best in this forum but it was the best one I felt.

My question is have you thought out how our system really works?

The unfairness of it all and the excessive government intervention?

The fact that our species started off on the barter system? And all the work and effort that truly entails?

That to ease all that effort of transporting of your goods to someone else and theirs back to your homestead our species created IOUs. Whether it was gold or silver or dollars, all it was was IOUs. The most significant advancement that led to human progress. At its creation it was pure, unadulterated, unfettered capitalism.

And how that system has morphed into various different social systems including the one we're in today?

Where is this current system going?

And if you support going back to a barter system would it not be better and more efficient with IOUs(Ie. money)?

I agree, i started a thread about this a few days ago. Our system is impractical and puts a strain on the world. Money is worthless, what else could we be doing with the resources of the fields they are using to grow all that cotton on? Who owns those fields and companies?

reply to post by onequestion


It isn't entirely worthless, but it is just an IOU. Its intrinsic value is the contract we have made with someone else to pay them back with a good or value of equal value. The problem we have now is that our government takes a disproportionate amount from its people and then gives it to who we would not chose to give it to(Ie, the bank bailouts or GM) Granted, we should pay taxes for infrastructure or defense, but beyond that our effort belongs to us.

To go into a barter system would radically change society, and not just in terms of the hard work it would involve, but in terms of society's values (for example, define wealth in a barter system), and particularly the prestige associated with different lines of work. For example, people who grow food would be in greater demand than say, managers. There probably wouldn't be any call centres. Merchants and trading agents would become important for people with less in-demand skills.

People would have to develop a wider range of skills, too, in much the same way sole traders do, when they have both their core business, as well as administration, management, business analysis, marketing, recruitment, etc. Rather than concentrating on their core skill, say, food growing, a person in a barter system would also have to spend time looking for trading partners, travelling, etc. It would be a lot more work. For some, it would be rewarding as you can see direct connections between labour and appetite, survival, health, property, etc. For others, it would be torture.

It really would be hard. Right now my cup runneth over. It has been a perfect season for my garden and though there are many people standing in line for the fruit of my labor, very few are willing to pay for or even barter for it. I have, sweet potatoes, cassava, feed corn, sweet corn, cucumbers, egg plants, pumpkin, pole beans, string beans, pigeon peas, carrots, cabbage, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, hot peppers, tomatoes, and I could go on.

People just don't have that mentality anymore. If it comes out of a store they will pay through the nose for it. My goods are grown with love, no chemical pesticides and hand picked but they think because it came out my garden it should free.

Good luck with this one. Americans are going to have to reach rock bottom before they will even consider a barter system.

I don't want to take away from the discussion but here some ideas i was having on this exact subject. Check it out.

Trade System