Back to Bartering?

Hi Woody,

I totally agree…nobody enjoys paying taxes but as Aircooled and others have pointed out, it’s obviously necessary. However, when the government starts stepping on something multiple times, it’s clearly not consistent with the spirit of taxation & suggests a kind of bully mentality of doing something just because you can get away with it.

Gosh. Ya'll are acting like the Government isn't your friend. The Government is just there for Change, Hope and to Help You. How can you not trust the Government? Ya'll should be happy to give all your money to the Government. A billion Chinese are counting on you (and your grandchildren.)

November is coming up. If you vote for an incumbent, you're part of the problem.

RX Reven' wrote: ...reverting back to the inefficient, unreliable system of bartering as it’s less painful than having to deal with the government.

Back to the original post...

Do you really think bartering (or more specifically baby sitting bartering) is inefficient? I think it's incredibly efficient.

I offer to watch my friends kids for them all the time. No, it's not babysitting. It's helping a friend.

But it's a pretty good (efficient) deal for the recipient. They get not 1, but 2 responsible adults for no cost whatsoever (my wife and I would usually be a package deal). We have 23 years of experience parenting 5 kids of our own, and hundreds of other kids as well.

I'll bet they couldn't possibly afford to pay a babysitter for that service. Sounds pretty efficient to me.

My daughter recently bought a computer. It came with a free Ipod. She already had an Ipod. Her friend had a guitar that he didn't want anymore, and she really wanted one. They traded. She got a guitar which she really wanted in trade for a piece of equipment she didn't want. He got something he really wanted by trading off something he had no use for. Sounds pretty efficient to me. There is no way either of them could have done better with cash.

Dr. Hess wrote: November is coming up. If you vote for an incumbent, you're part of the problem.

Just like republicans said in '94, and democrats said in '06/'08, and the democratic-republicans said in 1800... Just voting for "anyone but who's in charge right now" is a good way to end up a lot worse than where you started.

Love love love love love bartering. As long as it's retail price for retail price or wholesale for wholesale, (retail for retail is much, much easier) everybody's happy.

come on Poop it really doesn't matter whether it's retail for wholesale or wholesale for retail or what ever... if I'm satisfied with what you're offering me for what ever it is I'm trading to you and if you're satisfied then we both go away happy... berkeley the tax man...

wbjones wrote: come on Poop it really doesn't matter whether it's retail for wholesale or wholesale for retail or what ever... if I'm satisfied with what you're offering me for what ever it is I'm trading to you and if you're satisfied then we both go away happy... berkeley the tax man...

It matters when the terms aren't discussed. i.e., I do $1000 worth of work for you at wholesale price, you do $1000 worth of work for me at retail. I get hosed.

Not if you are satisfied with the work you are receiving and consider it a fair trade.

The problem with defining it in dollar terms (or retail vs wholesale) is that you are playing DIRECTLY into the IRS' hand. You are admitting it has a dollar value and that it is income. Taxable.

I don't ask my friends what the cash value of their gifts to me are. They may have an intrinsic value to me, but not a monetary value.

slefain wrote: There was a company called "TradeBank" a decade ago that was a bartering company. The printing company I worked for traded a metric ton of printing to them in exchange for tons of "TradeBucks". He got a pair of jet skis, and two company employee vacations that way. Not sure of the tax implications though, but I'd say "handshake economics" would be the way to go. No paperwork would be the way to go, just a trade.

I guess in the spirit of trying to privatize everything, these people have created a private currency backed by the full faith and credit of TradeBank?

What the Federal and state governments are doing is creating an underground ("Blackmarket") economy, as they push us into Third World status with all the taxes and laws. Bartering is just part of that new economy, and why eventually income tax as it exists today will be replaced with a VAT based system, of whatever you want to call it.

Woody wrote: One thing that really cheeses me off if paying sales tax on private party sales of used cars. Our state collects tax on the same vehicle each time it's registered to a new owner. A car can theoretically generate more than it's original MSRP in state sales tax if it changes hands often enough.

Try living in a state where they charge you sales tax on the book value of the car at every berkleying renewal, even if the car DOESN'T change hands...

Wups! Server fart.

Yup. Ad valorum tax. GA's got 'em. They SUCK.

SVreX wrote: Not if you are satisfied with the work you are receiving and consider it a fair trade. The problem with defining it in dollar terms (or retail vs wholesale) is that you are playing DIRECTLY into the IRS' hand. You are admitting it has a dollar value and that it is income. Taxable. I don't ask my friends what the cash value of their gifts to me are. They may have an intrinsic value to me, but not a monetary value.

what he said.... If I'm satisfied with what I get in return for what I "give" you ... by definition I can't be "hosed"...

SVreX wrote: Yup. Ad valorum tax. GA's got 'em. They SUCK.

Alabama does too. The tag for my brother's 03 Yukon Denali costs more than all four of my older cars combined.

Dr. Hess wrote: November is coming up. If you vote for an incumbent, you're part of the problem.

And where was that attitude 2 years ago? If government isn't your friend, it isn't your friend in whatever mask it's wearing in any given year.

I've always had that attitude, BAMF. You just go ahead and vote the same problems back in. If things don't change in DC next November, things are going to get real you-ga-lee. Pat Buchanan, 2 time Presidential candidate, said in an editorial recently that the peasants were at the gates with pitch forks and the rich in the castle are starting to notice and be concerned. If you really think the rich in the castle are your friends, then feel free to stay home in November. Hope for Change.

I haven't ever believed that anyone running for office is my friend. I'm not filling their campaign coffers, so they aren't going to do anything that benefits me (unless it somehow also benefits them).

Things got ugly last time we had an incumbent president. Same goes for the time before that. Probably the time before that as well, but I was under 10, and wouldn't have paid attention to Reagan were he on TV doing anything other than Bedtime for Bonzo.

Actually, I’m surprised by how many decent candidates we’ve seen recently given the way the process systematically filters out the good & passes the remnants up to the top.

Unfortunately though, we consistently snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when these decent folks defy the odds by getting their names on a ballot only for us stupid %*&#$’s to allow the media elite to talk us out of voting for them.

I just finished reading Sarah Palin’s Going Rouge and in it, she quotes Winston Churchill by saying “with integrity, nothing else matters - without integrity, nothing else matters”.

Seriously, I bet most of us on this board feel that we could do a better job running the country than what we currently have. How is this possible; are we simply delusional or was Winston correct in thinking that ivy league educations, leadership experience, etc. are totally, totally irrelevant if not backed by integrity.

I recommend the next time you vote, make integrity the most important consideration.

BTW, I try not to hijack other folks threads as I know many consider that to be in bad form but I don’t mind at all if folks take one of mine in whatever direction they want.

I think her book is called "Going Rogue". "Rouge" is really quite different.