financial crises forces california to face ..., page-22

This article is interesting in light on talk of bartering and growing your own veges. etc.


Sixpence None the Wiser
Our money will soon be as worthless and our markets as regulated as they were 300 years ago
By Phil Maymin
Thursday, February 19, 2009



What is life going to be like when we stop using dollars? Will we revert to bartering? Will we adopt euros or yen? Will we hoard gold? Or will we just roll wheelbarrows full of American currency to exchange for something more valuable — like toilet paper?

The trillions of our dollars that the government is spending on bailouts (or "stimulus" plans) will eventually result in the collapse of what had once been one of the strongest currencies of all time. Thanks to them, we are now in a state of permanent debt. They've sold us out, and not even to the highest bidder. They've sold us out to any bidder.

Whoever holds government debt owns a piece of your current wealth and your future income. They will tax us for all of eternity to pay interest to foreign countries. In time, the dollar will be worthless, and then what will they demand from us to pay the debt they put on our heads?

Connecticut has been under an imposing central government and a bad currency system before. Three centuries ago, the price of a commodity depended on how you were going to pay for it. Madam Knight, a traveler, wrote in 1704 that merchants exchanged goods for four types of payment: "pay," "money," "pay as money," and "trusting."

"Pay," she wrote, "is grain, pork, beef, etc., at the prices set by the General Court that year." Yes, we had price controls, because people didn't have enough good currency to pay their taxes, and the state established exchange rates to take payment through animals and vegetables. And, of course, the fixed prices were too high, just as the fixed price of sugar is too high, forcing us all to consume high-fructose corn syrup.

Which led to "pay as money," a system whereby the sale would not be used to pay a merchant's taxes, so the cost was "one-third cheaper than as the Assembly in General Court sets it," Madam Knight wrote.

Nothing beats good hard "money," of course, for which they used Spanish dollars because British currency was banned by act of Parliament.

And, lastly, "trusting" was a loan from the merchant to the buyer, as they would agree amongst themselves.

"When the buyer comes to ask for a commodity," writes Madam Knight, "sometimes before the merchant answers that he has it, he says, 'Is your pay ready?' Perhaps the chap replies yes. 'What do you pay in?' says the merchant."

Once the buyer answers, the price is set. For example, how much for a six-penny knife? "In pay, it is twelve pence; in pay as money, eight pence, and in hard money, its own price [value] six pence."

Perhaps it is time to get ready for a repeat. Trillions of dollars don't get spent by governments without systemic damage to the people.


etc.


http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/article.cfm?aid=11757