Posted on 06/15/2012 9:42:56 PM PDT by Kartographer
Buyers and sellers gather in a sweltering, previously abandoned building in the Greek city of Volos, some 200 miles north of Athens. There’s a bit of everything available here — books, eggs, clothes, kids’ toys, and even an old fax machine. But there isn’t a euro in sight. On the eve of a vote which may determine whether Greece stays in the euro zone, these Greeks have moved beyond the euro, at least here. This market is the brainchild of a network of people who have chucked the euro in favor of the TEM — the Greek shorthand for “Alternative Local Currency.”
“In the network, people can trade their goods and services. They don’t need money for that. They just need time and the desire to do it,” said Christos Papaioannou, one of the network’s founders. It’s kind of like bartering on steroids, he added.
Everyday Greeks are now dropping the Euro at a lightning fast , even before this Sunday’s election, and adopting a bartering system to buy and sell books, eggs, clothes, kids toys and every day essentials that are necessary.
Preppers’ PING!
[This was good if I do say so myself so I am reposting it! ;-)]
This is not happening just in Greece, there are stories starting to come out of Spain as well and Italy isn’t far behind. How many countries can Germany prop-up before they too are swamped? Britain and France are already so weak that the Islamist will over run them when the time comes.
Here at home we find that the corner three card Monte dealer is more honest than most of the ‘Too Big to Fail’ banks and investment houses. And face it the Monte dealer who ‘scams’ a few hundred is a thousand times more likely to go to jail that the ‘banksters’ that are stealing millions.
The game is so rigged now that the fraudsters don’t even know how its going to play out. We are headed for some bad times, which is one of the reasons I’ve been sounding the alarm. Its time that you either prepare to stand on your own beholden to no one or accept that you will be a ‘serf’ dependent on others to provide your basic needs.
Check out Ferfal’s blog and Selco’s blog despite what so many think it is NOT impossible for a modern country to quickly fall into chaos! It’s happen before and it is happening now.
Our society has infrastructure that has grown so complex and interdependent that it only takes a few pieces to break to bring the whole thing down. Gene Roddenberry explained it like this: “Our society is so fragile, so dependent on the interworking of things to provide us with the goods and services that you don’t need nuclear warfare to fragment us anymore than the Romans needed it to cause their eventual downfall.”
As for me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.
Some seem to think that prepping is foolish, so I ask you what’s easier telling your children and loved ones why you prepared or explaining to them why you didn’t?
But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8
But then someone has to stand on the bridge waiting for FEMA to bring them a bottle of water, an MRE and a warm blanket so as to provide the Network Anchors their background ‘Money Shot’. I wonder how that will workout for them?
I am not saying that things will turn Mad Max/Book of Eli, (With the possible exception of a brief time in a few of the larger big blue cities) but things could easily breakdown for 30 to 60 days during which basic supplies, goods and services stop, banking stops (No checks No Credit Cards, No Debit Cards so on...) now how many people do you think are ready for such?
And between those not ready and those who have always had the ‘gubberment’ hand them everything what do you think the reaction will be?
Their reaction I think can be summed up in one of my favorite quotes:
Quark: Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They’re a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don’t believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes. ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’: The Siege of AR-558 (#7.8)” (1998)
For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpfull. You can download it at:
http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf
NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, a extra couple changes of oil and filters for your car, tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”
Or as the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
NIV Proverbs 22:3
Lastly this for the doubters and the scoffers.
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.
Underestimation can be fatal.”
The world is going to shit as the manipulated DOW rises. I'm cashing out of everything, including money-market funds. After the bank runs on Greece, Spain, Italy happen, I'm not going to be at the end of the line here in the US.
Yes, my dollars may be worth less, but at least I will have some. The world economy is looking really bleak no matter what the central bankers do. The run has already started in Greece in a small way, and this bartering system that is growing is further evidence of the fall of Europe, which will send the world into a depression.
Good luck with your 401's and IRA's as the socialists look for new money to support the "gimmes" and have spent the Social Security funds the boomers paid into. My advice, cash out and if you're 62, get your SS while you can. It will be gone sooner than the GAO predicts. You and your employer paid in...it's yours. Not your fault it was a ponzi scheme to begin with.
True capitalism breaks out.
Bartering? It's that bad?
If things have come to this point in Greece, which Germany and France bankers still attempt to bail out with little result, then the economic fall is inevitable. Once Greece defaults the dominoes will tumble and Europe is lost for at least a decade, much like Japan's lost decade. Worse, the affect on other central banks around the world will make Lehman Brothers look like a local Starbucks closing.
I'm cashing out and suggest everyone do the same. So what if I'm wrong? I'll still have my money and so do you, whatever it's worth. I see a world-wide economic collapse coming.
Think. The dot.com bubble; the housing bubble; the credit bubble; and now the socialist "gimme" bubble!!!
I truly believe the world is in the worst economic situation it has experienced in my 62 years. I'm just a lowly past owner of 3 small companies and know how to read a profit/loss statement so what do I know about central banks? Nothing. But when I see a major tourist country starting to barter for goods/services - that is not a good sign of things to come.
My wife thinks I’m nuts for not bringing all of the kid’s now-too-small clothing to Goodwill. It ends up bagged and binned in the attic. I imagine some farmer will be glad to trade some food for some decent clothing for his kids.
While part of me is reminded of the “storing up treasures on earth where moths can get them”, the other part of me is reminded of Joseph having Pharaoh stash away 7 years of supplies and build some dams.
A+E now has a show on bartering
bump barter/prep
Let’s see-don’t work,don’t pay taxes and only want to sit
around an outdoor cafe table and drink coffee all day.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
During the Iraq invasion, there was an article on how bad it was in places. Power was out, so out came the ancient bread cooking ovens. No fuel, so they burned old clothes to make bread.
But clothing will make good trade - even if just to make quilts.
I don’t see these folks sitting in cafes all day long. I see them working and providing for their families.
I left this comment at that web page:
Two comments:
One, Ammunition. NEVER barter your ammo! The bullet you trade away in the morning will be shot back at you in the night. And there’s no guarantee that you can restock once you’ve given it away. The only time you should expend ammunition, is at a target.
Two, an addition to the list: Feminine Hygiene Products. If you have the ladies with you in a SHTF scenario, you need to be mindful of their unique needs. And a tampon is useful for staunching deep wounds. The zombies who failed to prep will give you whatever you demand in exchange.
Heh. You just described the student population in the SeaTac area.
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