Agreed. As I have stated on this forum before our current system is broken and we need to rethink how we've done things in the past. I have always thought that we should go back to a barter system. I have been told that the reason this system stopped was because it was hard to determine the exact worth of each item and it made it difficult to exchange in other countries due to the inability to find equal worth. Please correct me if I am wrong on that as that my understanding as to why we switched to monetizing goods. That being said, if we are placed in a situation where we can no longer trade with other countries due to a trade war and nationalism, then maybe local communities can determine an effective barter system for the local community.
My brother barters. He is a mechanic and he got braces for his daughter this way and many other things.
There might be more one can do than you think. Perhaps someone can provide the food ingredients and the other person cook. Some, even an older person might be able to watch children after school or help tutor. Although this was not bartering, my great uncle passed away recently at the age of 104. He owned a small apartment building, 1920's old world style in Los Angeles, perhaps a total of 6 units. Everyone who knew him loved him. He was a true gentleman, grounded, a gardener, worldly and heart centered in all he did. He refused to raise the rent for years on most of his tenants. because he knew they could not afford a higher rent. They were mostly young struggling young professionals and actors. They gave back to him in many ways including making sure he was eating, drove him to appointments, shopped with him for groceries. They loved being with him and he with them. They were like his grand kids and everyone took care of each other. .
I think barter works in small-scale local situations (car repair for braces, for example). It starts to become very limiting quickly once it involves more than a few people, though. Take the orthodontist, for example. She may be able to straighten a child's teeth, but what she needs on a daily basis are food, rent, transportation, etc. How often can she directly barter her services for those things? How many children's teeth would her landlord, grocer, and local metro need straightened?
Some kind of currency would start develop quickly.
As for local scrip, I think that developed during the Great Depression in response to the bank runs which put banks out of the business and paralyzed the economy. Hopefully, that will not happen again. (One of the incredibly few things I ever agreed with George W. Bush about was the bailout of the banks, because that could be absolutely disastrous during the Great Recession).
But local scrip is also very limiting as far as any long-term economic situation is concerned. If one region of the country (say, Central California) wants to trade produce with another region of the country with a different scrip, how would that work? Are they basically all going to be local currencies? What about stuff that's sold nationally like prescription drugs? Interest rates?
That's not to say that I'm against local economic innovation at all. I think one of the great values of states is that they can function as labs for innovation for things that may work and see other things that don't work.
Thanks so much for telling us about your great uncle. His behavior is a perfect example of how a gift economy can work, as described by Lewis Hyde in his book, The Gift. Basically, whenever someone gifts something to the community, the spirit of that gift circulates until it finds an individual or enterprise that is most in need. By "gifting" a lower rent to his tenants, your great uncle received that gift in return in his own times of need in the form of favors from his tenants. What excites me are local currencies, like LETS systems and demurrage currencies, that incorporate the spirit of the gift into the formal monetary system.
Agreed, bartering is a plausible arrangement, and I'm all for removing as many social functions as possible from the monetary system. @ElaineG There are ways to incorporate the spirit of bartering (and the gift) at a higher level of complexity so that everyone has purchasing power, regardless of their skills or material possessions. For example, LETS systems (Local Exchange Trading Systems) conceive of monetary units as only coming into existence when a person is gifted a good or service from someone else. So if person A is given a box of produce from person B's garden, person A may then be 5 units in debt to the community as a whole. Person A could then redeem her debt by, say, babysitting or tutoring, as Lovendures has pointed out. And nothing's stopping communities from exempting individuals who are too sick or old from exchanging labor. But debt and the concept of "you owe me one" shouldn't be the animating principle of these systems. LETS systems ideally honor the spirit of the gift and communal wellbeing.
One of the things I miss about living in a small town back East is that we had a pretty good ad hoc barter system. Here are some of the things we bartered with or for:
Reiki, acupuncture, massage, eggs, milk, baked goods, cooked meals, homegrown produce, pet sitting, baby sitting, seeds, art.
I live in a small town (2,600) and there is a lot of bartering going on - we call it helping our neighbors where we can.
It seems to me that many people believe we live in a capitalist country - we don't. Some of our economy is purely socialist (Veteran's healthcare, public schools, etc.), much is crony capitalism (pharmaceutical and energy industries, private prisons), some is run by robber barons (health insurance) and, of course, some is actual capitalism (your local plumber). While I admit it is a broad generalization, the bigger you are, the less likely your company is "capitalist" and the more likely the fix is in. We need the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt again.
I live in a small town (2,600) and there is a lot of bartering going on - we call it helping our neighbors where we can.
It seems to me that many people believe we live in a capitalist country - we don't. Some of our economy is purely socialist (Veteran's healthcare, public schools, etc.), much is crony capitalism (pharmaceutical and energy industries, private prisons), some is run by robber barons (health insurance) and, of course, some is actual capitalism (your local plumber). While I admit it is a broad generalization, the bigger you are, the less likely your company is "capitalist" and the more likely the fix is in. We need the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt again.
Absolutely. Completely on point.
@lovendures very nice. I hope our society starts acting like your great uncle.