Greeks embrace bartering to survive economic collapse — and soon, you will too
Posted on September 23, 2015September 24, 2015 by Sam Rolley Views: 3,490
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In Greece, the age-old practice of bartering for goods and services is experiencing a renaissance as the nation endures the sixth year of its debt-driven economic meltdown. And as bartering has come to mean the difference between starvation and survival for some Greeks, Americans ought to take note.
The New York Times on Monday explained how virtual barter networks are popping up in Greece to help individuals and small businesses in the nation survive harsh capital controls put in place to combat a long-standing liquidity crisis.
Earlier this year, many Greeks found themselves unable to withdraw money from banks for daily necessities or business expenses because of long wait lines or, worse, the institutions’ shutting their doors altogether.
Imagine the frustration of being unable to access basic goods and services because of the collapse of the fiat financial system upon which you once relied to make sure that there was food on the table and a roof over your head.
Even scarier, imagine the anxiety suffered by skilled workers and business owners with something to offer customers but afforded no government-sanctioned avenue to leverage skills and goods to fulfill personal needs.
The Times reported that Greeks, confronted with those very problems, have found ways to survive despite their government’s economic incompetence.
From the report:
As Greece grapples with a continued downturn, bartering is gaining traction at the margins of the economy, part of a collection of worrisome signs for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who was re-elected on Sunday.
Graphic artists are exchanging designs for olive oil. Accountants swap advice for office supplies. In the agricultural heartland and on the Greek islands, informal bartering, which has historically helped communities survive, has intensified as more people exchange fruits, vegetables, other crops, equipment, clothing and services.
And while some of the bartering is taking place in the old-fashioned form of handshakes on the street, technology has also provided Greeks opportunities to barter for a wider range of goods and services than the traditional this-for-that bartering model would allow.
Again from the Times report:
Much of it is being done virtually through online networks that match offers and needs, a digital twist on a centuries-old tradition.
After capital controls were imposed in June, about 6,000 users signed up for Tradenow, on top of 25,000 registered members. Even small businesses that had previously shunned barter networks as unworkable have come aboard.
The system equates one tradepoint to one euro, and lets users barter directly or rack up the digital currency to get goods and services from others in the community. To attract business, users can also deal in a mix of euros and points.
The modern online systems make bartering more efficient. The activity can also have a multiplier effect in the economy, generating new work and business.
In Greece, it has taken six years for even a modest barter economy to take shape in the face of one of the most painful economic collapses in modern history.
Why? Because, much like in the U.S. today, mainstream economic thinking and government denial that economic collapse would never happen made bartering seem a cumbersome alternative to fast-moving fiat currency. Naturally, Greek individuals and businesses faced a learning curve.
In the U.S., you can bet that the barter economy would be much slower to grow any semblance of mainstream acceptance following an economic meltdown. One problem would be that the federal government would do anything in its power to shut down barter networks as the economy worsened. After all, businesses’ and individuals’ abandonment of the dollar would represent the ultimate proof that fiat money has no value beyond propping up those who control its distribution.
But there’s an even bigger problem. Most Americans today can imagine no scenario in which the U.S. would reach point of economic turmoil that has befallen Greece.
In fact, outside of alternative media publications like The Bob Livingston Letter™, there’s been hardly any mention in recent years of how bad the U.S. economy really looks to those with a view from the inside.
Lloyd Darland, in his book “The Emperor’s Clothes Cost Twenty Dollars,” explained how the Federal Reserve’s sins of the past are leading the U.S. toward rapid economic decline.
The biggest losers, Darland said, will be average American consumers.
Livingston has similarly predicted: “Bread will cost $25 a loaf. Hamburger meat will cost $60/pound. Gas will cost $37/ gallon … that’s a $500 fill up. I know this sounds absolutely insane. But you need to prepare NOW because it’s already started …”
And while warnings like those from Livingston and Darland continue to lie outside the realm of mainstream economic thought in the U.S., the validity of those long-standing warnings is slowly being realized.
Consider this report from the Washington Examiner in June:
With all the chaos unravelling in Greece, Congress would be wise to do what it takes to avoid reaching Greek debt levels. But it’s not a matter of sticking to the status quo and avoiding bad decisions that would put the budget on a Greek-like path, because the budget is on that path already.
A quarter-century ago, Greek debt levels were roughly 75 percent of Greece’s economy — about equal to what the U.S. has now. As of 2014, Greek debt levels are about 177 percent of national GDP. Now, the country is considering defaulting on its loans and uncertainty is gripping the economy.
In 25 years, U.S. debt levels are projected to reach 156 percent of the economy, which Greece had in 2012. That projection comes from the Congressional Budget Office’s alternative scenario, which is more realistic than its standard fiscal projection about which spending programs Congress will extend into the future.
That’s right, the past 25 years of U.S. economic policy are almost a mirror image of the 25 years leading up to the Greek collapse.
In other words, it’s probably a good time to start honing your bartering skills and encouraging your friends, neighbors and business associates to consider doing the same.
Don’t wait for The New York Times to publish a story about a surprising revival of barter in America if you’re interested in learning more about how the nation got into the economic trouble it’s in today and how to protect yourself from the coming consequences. Get the inside scoop from researchers and economic experts who’ve been warning Americans about the coming trouble for years and who are already setting up barter networks and prepper communities to hedge against their predictions.
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