[DOWNLOAD] "Barter Country: As the Economy Suffers, A Nation Turns Toward Cashless Transactions (Columns) (Column)" by Reason * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details

Title: Barter Country: As the Economy Suffers, A Nation Turns Toward Cashless Transactions (Columns) (Column)
Author : Reason
Release Date : January 01, 2009
Genre: Reference,Books,Religion & Spirituality,
Pages : * pages
Size : 54 KB

Description

YOU MAY HAVE lost your shirt in the market, but chances are you have a few dozen more in your closet, half of which you haven't worn since the Clinton administration. If your home has never been featured on Clean Sweep, Neat, or one of the dozens of other cable shows where a team of professional organizers and designers gives your rec room an enema, you are sitting on a trove of tradable commodities. We're broke but we're loaded, and even if we've lost our jobs and cut up all our credit cards, that doesn't mean we have to stop consuming. In the midst of the Definitely Above Average Recession of 2009, cash may still be king, but barter is that guy who sometimes looks more like the king than the king himself. When the economy tanks, it's not just dumbass comedies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop that do surprisingly well. Open your newspaper's business section, and amid gloomy tales of foreclosures, credit crunches, and government bailouts, you'll see bullish reports on the booming, almost magical world of barter. Acquaintances solidify friendships via swapped sweaters. Single moms trade housesitting for children's clothes. Refrigeration companies get paid with sandwiches. The number of listings in the barter section of Craigslist jumped 100 percent from January 2008 to January 2009. According to the International Reciprocal Trade Association, more than 250,000 U.S. businesses now conduct $16 billion in barter transactions per year. Who cares where the Dow's at when fence builders are exchanging their labor for Jet skis and barter websites are attracting new members faster than a Bernie Madoff investment fund?