Time for AU and AG

[Timelord]

Historical lessons are not quaint or meaningless - The military school at Sandhurst certainly don't think so. Bartering in most of these posts gets mixed up & confused in SHTF scenarios. I would not barter with an armed gang running amok etc. I am sure no one else will either. It seems incomprehensible that you suppose I would.

Whilst I can see the law & order disappearing during a SHTF situation, It does not mean my response would be to barter. I do not understand why the gung ho, guns blazing, armageddon, self centered, kill or be killed reasoning is being put forward here. It is not the answer to all scenarios.

I repeat -->>> As far as I can make out, the majority of preppers see bartering as something which may take place after the dust has settled. ---- That is PSHTF & then some. Without barter, exchange & some mutually beneficial codes of conduct, then there will be no re-emergence of any form of society. Naturally humans in history have migrated towards some type of society. A warrior class can only exist with an economic base to support it. A feudal leader supports & is supported by his warrior class - which in turn can only exist with an economic base to underpin it. A leader with warriors and no economic base will either be very poor and not able to retain his followers or he will have to resort to brigandry or conquest. Both high risk strategies. We are not talking during SHTF. This is later, after the initial bad times.

There will always be differentiation geographically as to the severity of PSHTF situation - as ever there is individually also. Just like there are murders nowadays. What we are talking in is generalisms and things like bartering placed in its proper context. Even in Feudal times, Bartering is carried out from the Lord down to the peasant. Bartering can be with goods or strategic assets or anything else suitable.

Laws are irrevelent, but mutually beneficial co-operation or lack of it is not. Markets were places people took their produce to barter. in Bronze Age, Neolithic, Mesolithic & earlier times, people took their wares to predetermined special points in the landscape at certain times of the year. Bartering & merrymaking commenced. It was neutral ground with many different people present. It was an important event for the valuable exchange of resources & cross community links. It was a valued resource and would have been protected by obligated manpower while it was underway. It was a secure neutral location for the participants. This is not something that can be arranged overnight, but it is an example of a workable system that lasted for many thousands of years for isolated communities & traders.

Those unwilling in the longer term to benefit from this type of activity could find themselves left on the margins and those who look to prey on others after the dust has settled had better be prepared for the retribution.

A Feudal Lords/leaders power stems from his economic base. The martial power this enables is available to enforce security of that economic base. A key part of this system is barter & exchange.