Barter Society Emerges In Greece As Crisis Deepens *Video*

SHTF Plan ^ | 10-29-2011 | Mac Slav0

[blam]

Barter Society Emerges In Greece As Crisis Deepens *Video*

Mac Slavo
October 29th, 2011

As the Greek economy succumbs to the debt crisis and individual Greeks are made poorer each day through austerity measures and job cuts, many have begun resorting to traditional bartering as a way to make ends meet and at the same time increase their involvement with neighbors and their general community.

Services being bartered include anything from language classes and babysitting to hand cooked meals and daily labor.

It’s huge. Everything we do is without money, like looking after people or making food by ourselves.

…We still have the memory of an agricultural society in Greece when people used to do things together, like they would do the olive trees of my family this week, and next week we do the olive trees of your family. And, then the next week, the other neighbor. So, we would exchange services, and they like that.

…

With the tough economic times leaving many Greeks feeling worthless there is real value in projects like the time bank. With the Greek government drowning in debt, these creative solutions are offering not only support, but encouragement for the people…

(Click to the site to see the video)

As we’ve suggested on previous occasions, when a country goes through a monetary crisis, depression or recession, traditional methods of income disappear, sometimes overnight. As a result, those who are aware that the paradigm has or is shifting and are willing to accept their new reality will prosper.

Greece, referred to by many as the canary in the coal mine of the ever-worsening global economic crisis, is a perfect example of how communities will respond during monetary, fiscal and political chaos. Use their example to your benefit, because similar circumstances will take place in the U.S. and other industrialized Western nations in due time.

Erich of Tactical Intelligence recently provided some advice on personal economic redundancy, in which he says that we should seek to give value, not time:

As an employee, you only get paid a percentage of the true value you generate. For example my company bills me out at $250/hr but I only see a fraction of that. The rest goes straight into other people’s pockets.

This is akin to being a wage slave.

To free yourself from slavery you first need to change your mindset.

This mindset shift happens when you realize that you earn income by providing value, not time. So look for ways to provide the most value to others, and charge a fair price for it.

One of the best ways is to start your own business. Whatever work you’re doing now in your employment, find a way to provide that same value directly to those who are benefiting from it. This way you get paid to the full level of the value you are offering.

It may take a bit of up-front investment in time and perhaps capital, but the freedom gained will be well worth it.

Understanding your inherent value, the skills available to you, and then taking those skills directly to the marketplace will become critical in a society where our traditionally modern service sector jobs are being destroyed by the thousands daily.

What skills do you have? What skills would you like to have? Will that be valuable to people in the middle of an economic depression? These are all questions we should be asking ourselves right now – before the need for us to use them to survive from day-to-day arises.

In What is Money When the System Collapses? we offered some advice on investments that you can be making today, which will be worth much more during and/or after an economic crunch. One such investment is to build or further develop your existing skill sets:

Another important monetary commodity after the crunch will be trade skills. If you know how to fish, machine tools, hunt, sew, fix and operate radioes, fix cars, manufacture shoes, or grow food, you’ll have some very important skills during the recovery period.

In Top Post-Collapse Barter Items And Trade Skills Brandon Smith of Alt Market further expands on essential trade skills that will be highly valued in a bartering economy:

Mechanic, Engine Repair

Welding

Blacksmithing

Firearms Repair, Ammo Reloading

Construction

Architect, Home Reinforcement

Agriculture, Farming Expertise, Seed Saving, Animal Care

Bee Keeping

Doctor, Medical Assistant

Veterinarian

Well Construction, Water Table Expertise

Engineer, Community Planning, Manufacturing, Electrical

Firearms Proficiency, Security, Self Defense Planning

Martial Arts Training

Full article and list…

One day, there may be no jobs to be had, which means we’ll have to create our own jobs. And unlike most of today’s laborers, we’ll actually have to produce something of value that can then be traded to others for something else of value.

Start preparing for tomorrow’s barter economy today.

[1rudeboy]

LOL barter LOL Greece LOLOL

Omg, can someone actually travel just once to the country he is describing? LOLOL

[Nonsense Unlimited]

Somebody’s waking up. Good for them.

[Soothesayer9]

tax free FTW!

Looks like mammy and pappy will have to steal their welfare goods on their own without the assistance of Big Gov.

[ronnie raygun]

Shame how a great society can be destroyed by this cancer. We are looking in the mirror at our future if we fail to right the wrong.

[kingu]

Actually, while the bartering is a great backup, the viewpoints of the article are completely in error. Greece’s problem isn’t the economy - world or local - it is the gross looting of the treasury by the people of Greece - public employees, politicians, and average citizens. I can find no modern record of Greece ever running a budget surplus, and while the percentage of borrowing vs GDP would be lower if the world economy was stronger, it would only be a delay to the crisis, not an aversion.

And even today, with all the draconian taxes and the vague cuts in public employee costs, it will take Greece a mere three years to return to the ‘crisis’ point that we’re at today. This is assuming that they’re able to collect the taxes - which this article indicates they won’t be able to - and that there’s no significant increase in the costs to the public treasury, which is naive and dishonest.

[Travis McGee]

Mechanic, Engine Repair

Welding

Blacksmithing

Firearms Repair, Ammo Reloading

Construction

Architect, Home Reinforcement

Agriculture, Farming Expertise, Seed Saving, Animal Care

Bee Keeping

Doctor, Medical Assistant

Veterinarian

Well Construction, Water Table Expertise

Engineer, Community Planning, Manufacturing, Electrical

Firearms Proficiency, Security, Self Defense Planning

Martial Arts Training

(Can I add, “book writer?”)

[Soothesayer9]

Mechanic, Engine Repair

Have to admit, in a Road Warrior scenario, engine repair would come in quite handy, as would any kind of firearms repair.

[Freedom56v2]

bump for reading later

[arkady_renko]

Blam, you are such a kidder. They fixed all that Euro Mess last week, don't you remember? Nothing but rainbows and lolipops now.

[Freedom56v2]

bump for reading later

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks blam.

[DJ MacWoW]

James Madison

Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 3rd Congress, 1st Session, page 170 (1794-01-10)
The Annals summarize speeches in the third person, with the actual text of Madison’s quote as follows:

“Mr. Madison wished to relieve the sufferers, but was afraid of establishing a dangerous precedent, which might hereafter be perverted to the countenance of purposes very different from those of charity. He acknowledged, for his own part, that he could not undertake to lay his finger on that article in the Federal Constitution which granted a right of Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”

[Paladin2]

How about IED builder?

[blam]

Saving The Eurozone, Will it Work?

[FoxPro]

If a whole culture deludes themselves that they can live off the sweat of others, it will fall into poverty. It may take some time.

In the sweep of history, it actually happens to every culture, at some point and then a new culture emerges from the ashes.

It is just what is happening here and in Europe now. Cultures are always moving forward or backward, they never stand still.

It is just our turn.

[blam]

"(Can I add, “book writer?”) "

Definately:

PaperBack Writer

I'm going to add this one for me:

Handyman

(ahem)

[reefdiver]

bartering in western ny. beyond what any one knows

[Lurker]

Where have we heard this before?

I figure being able to whip up a couple of hundred gallons of high quality home brewed beer is going to make us very popular.

[blam]

"How about IED builder?"

Maybe.

See what Selco says:

A Survival Q & A: Living Through SHTF In The Middle Of A War Zone

I'm building a rig/jig to refill your little (1 Lb) Coleman propane bottles when you have to cook outside on your camper cooker...no electricity.
OH! You don't have a propane camper cooker. I've got one for trade.