Euros discarded as impoverished Greeks resort to bartering

[Highlander]

All societies need manual labour,... its not so much about the unskilled worker, its about the age of the unskilled worker

[ObongoPox]

(7 January 2013, 15:16)Scythe13 Wrote:

(7 January 2013, 15:12)ObongoPox Wrote: What happens to the socially marginalized who've no social skills and nothing to trade?

Natural selection, I guess.

Those who are currently maladapted to modern society will,I agree,be selected out of the gene pool AS THINGS STAND or if society continues more or less according to the current model,but shifts to the Greek model,let's say.Those currently deemed social outcasts(homeless etc)could actually turn out to be the fittest given a radical collapse of society many degrees beyond what's happening in Greece.Your answer was correct given the current model or variants thereof ,however.

[Scythe13]

(7 January 2013, 17:49)ObongoPox Wrote:

(7 January 2013, 15:16)Scythe13 Wrote:

(7 January 2013, 15:12)ObongoPox Wrote: What happens to the socially marginalized who've no social skills and nothing to trade?

Natural selection, I guess.

Those who are currently maladapted to modern society will,I agree,be selected out of the gene pool AS THINGS STAND or if society continues more or less according to the current model,but shifts to the Greek model,let's say.Those currently deemed social outcasts(homeless etc)could actually turn out to be the fittest given a radical collapse of society many degrees beyond what's happening in Greece.Your answer was correct given the current model or variants thereof ,however.

Very much agree! Having said that, I'm currently reading a fascinating book (one of many) called 'Handbook to being homeless' From what I can tell, although there is a lot of interesting stuff you can learn from a homeless guy with a very good ability to write, there's also a lot you can learn about how unadaptable many of the skills would be in a SHTF situation.

[ObongoPox]

Very much agree that mainstream society has such a narrow vocational skill-set(check-out operator,traffic-warden,assembly line worker)and that few,if any,of these mass-production skills will be applicable following a radical(post-apocalyptic as opposed to merely economic)collapse.I'm not saying the homeless would necessarily fare any better in a material sense of organised,methodical prepping and survivalism as seen on some online video.When the lights go off and the central-heating stops working then suddenly it's the homeless,ex mental patient who has,at least,the psychological ability to deal with endless cold,dark,loneliness.Confronted by grinding discomfort,solitude,lack of electric light and other modern amenities the tables are suddenly turned though the dictum.It's still natural selection,except that different traits are being selected for than those that currently favour satellite dish installers.That book sounds interesting btw...

[BDG]

Is it really bartering when you are swapping goods or services for a token you in turn will swap for goods and services? Or do we barter everyday now? Would one 'resort' to barter or would it be something that is remedy or advantageous given different situations?

Barter for me is something that is used between individuals or within a community where each transaction is negotiated and no common token or item is used to ascribe a particular value to an item - only its desirability to the one who wishes to aquire it and the reward the producer think it is worth give it value.

Resort to barter? Nay, saying someone is resorting to barter is doing a disservice to barter, for it surely is a higher way of doing things than passing tokens around. It requires thought and it also requires all who wish to undertake in a transaction to be a producer of some sort, rather than a money grubber.

[Scythe13]

(8 January 2013, 00:36)BDG Wrote: Barter for me is something that is used between individuals or within a community where each transaction is negotiated and no common token or item is used to ascribe a particular value to an item - only its desirability to the one who wishes to aquire it and the reward the producer think it is worth give it value.

Spot on. More power to the salesman.