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Barter: The Permanent Currency

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Categories: Commerce and business, Experiences and daily life

Word count/read time: 550 words; 2-1/2 minutes

A more fitting title should be BARTER: THE ORIGINAL CURRENCY. How else would conquerors have stolen Manhattan from the First Nation inhabitants for worthless beads? Barter's core principles diverge sharply from the fiat money system currently in place.

Throughout history, money has been devalued significantly on a moment's notice. Government mandates can make it worthless overnight. That's quite an effective method of grabbing wealth, what governments do best these days.

Physical objects are generally free from inflation but definitely not immune from market forces: tulip bust, Beanie Babies, fast-food collectibles, real estate, etc. Barter cannot be devalued unless it becomes a crime. Some countries want bartered items reported as income, to be taxed, so there are indirect ways governments crack down. Staunch privacy and freedom proponents know these exchanges are not Big Brother's or anyone else's business.

Modern life means clicking a mouse for our (credit card) purchases. That purchase costs the merchant a few points. The "standard" fee is about 3% plus a small surcharge. The realized percentage may be much more, i.e. a $4 purchase will lose 10.5% whereas a $400 purchase will lose 3.08%. If it happens to be a foreign currency, the percentage increases.

Every credit card charge reduces the effective buying power of the money. How much eventually goes to the financial industry FOR DOING NOTHING but continually and continuously wreaking havoc on the average person?! You are paying for that fatcat's umpteenth vacation home down payment. You are NOT supporting local businesses, yourself, lower prices, or your children's college fund.

Charging people for the convenience of paying their bills is fucking ridiculous! Every time you do not complete your transaction with real money or goods, you are furthering their cause and our misery. You enrich those who manipulate the system.

The general malaise a corrupt financial system inflicts upon those who actively use it (the consumer) or unwilling participants (the merchant) is criminal. However, our government would rather send someone to jail for stealing a loaf of bread than a tycoon who pillages billions of dollars.

Every transaction is tracked and the information sold off. Your privacy and freedom erode by your consent. You have no protection against data mining, no anonymity. You are paying into a system that shows no loyalty except to those who write the laws for their benefit.

A $100 bill is only backed by the word of a government. And we all know how truthful they are. My possessions will always have value that's not dependent on what some power-hungry government says.

Valuable goods and services or worthless "money?" You make the choice because the latter is coming fast. Besides, it's much harder to confiscate real property compared to pressing a mouse button to vanquish your electronic money. If we don't resist and demand change then it paves the way for even more manipulation. Our servitude is guaranteed if we don't band together.

UPDATE 5/15/2021: (Stories like this show how stacked the deck is against the average person when it comes to the financial system. Here's a helpful tidbit that everyone needs to understand: For a modest temporary inconvenience, the commoners could completely cripple the financial institutions if we worked together. But we're too busy infighting about whether or not it is OK to "Grab 'em by the pussy!"

Posted by M: March 10, 2020

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