[Roccland]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')


(moving along)


What makes a lot more sense is having a region's gold stock in a single, trusted bank and then issuing paper notes for the gold.

[Tyler_JC]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')


(moving along)


What makes a lot more sense is having a region's gold stock in a single, trusted bank and then issuing paper notes for the gold.

[Roccland]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')


(moving along)


What makes a lot more sense is having a region's gold stock in a single, trusted bank and then issuing paper notes for the gold.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'W')hat makes a lot more sense is having a region's gold stock in a single, trusted bank and then issuing paper notes for the gold.

[Tyler_JC]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'W')hat makes a lot more sense is having a region's gold stock in a single, trusted bank and then issuing paper notes for the gold.

[TommyJefferson]

Thank you guys for the good info about assaying. I now believe common folk could indeed become adept at sorting out bad physical gold from good.

I also believe private paper backed by physical gold is practical and possible. Heck, it works so well right now using methods like Kitco's pool and http://goldmoney.com that the Federal Government is trying to outlaw it.

The fact that Fedgov wants to outlaw it speaks loudly.

REALLY private banks. What is old is new again.

In my small town everyone knows which doctors to trust, and which to avoid. Within minutes anyone can find out which BMW motorcycle repair shops in Texas are good, and which are bad. Last week a methamphetamine dealer in my town known for two instances of cheating was found dead in the forest. Private markets are highly efficient at rooting out fraud.

[Shokdee]

Overall I've opted to move to the Thailand/Burma border and go for a permaculture inspired agroforestry - food forest - aquaculture mash up - multiple overlapping systems, lots of redundancy, lots of underground storage. This location has excellent road access for post-peak oil situation - PanAsian highway - so bicycles and spares are essential (with a good bike you can go anywhere).

Because of the abundant natural resources and excellent handicraft tradition in the surrounding areas, many high quality itmes from bamboo, rattan, hemp, teak, and so on will be (are already) availble to trade.

Food/fish/pigs/medicinal herbs etc I will have surplus of and can trade for labour. Also stockpiles of most items mentioned - salt, medicine, pencils, solar calculators, etc. I plan to cover sugars, oils, many medicines, spices, luxury items, by growing them myself - tobacco, carob, coao coao, vanilla, pepper, coffee, tea, all easy to grow small scale. (I'm not going to detail the literally thousands of useful trees and plants growng in this area). Many modern items can be replaced by natural products - tampons, bandages, disenfectant, insect repellent, water purification...

Many items of the west have little value in this area (for instance not using toilet paper but washing bottom with hand and water).

Assuming that the collapse will be chaotic with lots of fire and burning, most petro-chem products will melt or go up in flames. So look at all of these synthetic products - sleeping bags, tents, tarpaulins, mosquito nets, fishing nets, raincoats, umbrellas, candles, plastic packets of all kinds ... I think cheap plastic shoes, sneakers, windbreaks, backpacks, ball point pens, sunglasses, etc are good to store for trade. Also flammable is paper - an old National Geographic, maps, will be valuable in the distant future. (Clean A4 paper yes, but I can also make paper from mulberry, papyrus, even elephant dung).

Conversely, I think steel, iron, wire, copper, and so on items will survive the fires and be available for barter - hoes, spades, nails, knifes, fencing wire, steel beams, wheelbarrows will be around for a long time. Shells of old cars and trucks, deserted cities. Delicate items like needles, fish hooks, razors, aluminium foil, can be stored.

Glassware (all kinds) - don't overlook as easy to break but hard to replace. Small hand held mirrors, reading glasses, and all optics.

Lastly, infomation can be valuable and is easy to carry. I think flash memory, USB provide viable options for longtime storage of video files, PDFs, MP3s. So, consider an 80 g Ipod as a portable community library - irreplacable. A good laptop, handfulls of flash drives with info can last decades if well cared for.

Thanks to everyone for their tips. One last thing, many items you already use have muti-use and should be cleaned and stored - soda cans, glass bottles, eye droppers, tetra bricks, plastic bottles.

Shokdee

[Revi]

Here's a recent article that talks about how big countries are bartering to buy and sell food. This means that they are bypassing the money economy altogether. They can't get credit, and have to feed their people, so why not?

The food crisis is not over: FT

Moved to Economics Forum.-FL

[Revi]

Here's the part you can read without signing in:

Nations turn to barter deals to secure food By Javier Blas in London Last updated: January 26 2009 23:32:

Countries struggling to secure credit have resorted to barter and secretive government-to-government deals to buy food, with some contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a striking example of how the global financial crisis and high food prices have strained the finances of poor and middle-income nations, countries including Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Morocco say they have signed or are discussing inter-government and barter deals to import commodities from rice to vegetable oil.

EDITOR’S CHOICE
Health spending cuts endanger tens of thousands - Jan-26
Interactive graphic: Thirst for food - Jan-22
India’s import swing raises concerns of a sugar rush - Jan-26

[dohboi]

So it has begun. Harbinger of things to come. How soon will human traffic become part of the equation?

[crude_intentions]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dohboi', 'S')o it has begun. Harbinger of things to come. How soon will human traffic become part of the equation?

[Revi]

It's already happening. Haiti and the Dominican Republic have a longstanding agreement to have Haitians harvest the sugar cane crop. When they barter food for it instead of money, it's all over.

I think this represents a huge lack of confidence in the traditional monetary system.

Eventually most things that matter will be bartered, or sold for real money.

[wisconsin_cur]

NYT

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')OSCOW — Does the Taganrog Automobile Factory have a deal for you! Rows of freshly minted Hyundai Santa Fe sport utility vehicles are available right now. In exchange — well, do you have any circuit boards? Or sheet metal? Or sneakers?

Here is a sign of the financial times in Russia: Barter is back on the table.

Advertisements are beginning to appear in newspapers and online, like one that offered “2,500,000 rubles’ worth of premium underwear for any automobile,” and another promising “lumber in Krasnoyarsk for food or medicine.” A crane manufacturer in Yekaterinburg is paying its debtors with excavators.

And one of Russia’s original commodities traders, German L. Sterligov, has rolled out a splashy “anti-crisis” initiative that he says will link long chains of enterprises in a worldwide barter system.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

Wow. quite the scale for barter items though. I can see bartering rabbits for eggs or shoes etc, but excavators? wow.

Has anyone here started any new bartering this year?

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'W')ow. quite the scale for barter items though. I can see bartering rabbits for eggs or shoes etc, but excavators? wow.

Has anyone here started any new bartering this year?

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Grace Slick', 'W')hen logic and proportion
Have fallen so I'll be dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's LOST her head
Remember what the dormouse said

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'I') am trying. I have an offer out to a guy who wanted to buy some goats. I said I would take cash but would prefer hay, corn or oats in the fall. On a small scale bartering is a good way of building community.

[MarkJ]

I barter all the time. I've taken land, cars, trucks, SUVs, boats, quads, motorcycles, campers, guns, tools, equipment, firewood, salvage heating oil, antiques etc in exchange or partial trade for propane, heating oil, kerosene, construction, plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical work.

Sometimes I hold some of the property for a while, then sell or finance it back to the owner. I've ended up acquiring some pretty nice vehicles, toys and equipment for a day's labor.

Tenants will often trade possessions towards rent as well.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', 'I') am trying. I have an offer out to a guy who wanted to buy some goats. I said I would take cash but would prefer hay, corn or oats in the fall. On a small scale bartering is a good way of building community.

[Pretorian]

bartering saves quite a bit of money otherwise lost in taxes.