HuffPost Reader On Bartering: Recession Has "Changed The People In My Town"

Can hard times bring communities together? Sherry Wachter of Milton-Freewater, Oregon, contacted HuffPost to bear witness to how she and her neighbors are helping each other more and more as the money gets tighter.

Wachter and her 6,000 neighbors are part of a small agricultural community that's taken a big hit from the economic downturn. But over the past year, she wrote, she's noticed people finding alternate ways to afford the things they want, and in the process reigniting their sense of community. People are trading one good or service for another: some bricks for a fence, some flower bulbs for seeds, this shirt for that jacket. Wachter herself has been letting an old friend who's down on his luck sleep on her couch for the past three years in exchange for remodeling the house and doing yard work. It's win-win, she said.

"I dont think anybody would think of it as 'bartering'," she said in a phone interview. "It kind of is a community thing... Out of all this awfulness we might actually be able to capture a part of our national identity that's worth recapturing. That whole idea that we have to watch out for each other. None of us can make it just on our own."

"This recession has changed me," she added, "and it's changed the people in my town. It's made us turn every nickel twice. It's made us re-think how we spend our leisure time. For some of us it's stripped us of the safety nets many have taken for granted -- savings accounts, health insurance, retirement accounts. And that's not good. But what I'm seeing is that in my town, at least, we are starting to come out of our houses, and look around, and build new safety nets not of money, but of relationships. And I think that's very good indeed."

HuffPost readers: Seen bartering in your home town? Has the bad economy made people in your town closer? Tell us about it! Email [e-mail].

Comments

[TXfemmom]

01:42 AM on 10/02/2009

It appears that there are areas where Americans understand the idea of Fraternity after all.

[RJII]

01:46 AM on 10/02/2009

most of my life, I boasted about being a Me Phi Me kinda of person. I'm seriously rethinking this

[RJII]

01:37 AM on 10/02/2009

hmm...I thought about bartering free rent for renovation services.

[trief]

01:33 AM on 10/02/2009

This moderator is doing a great job of keeping you sheeple in the dark. Moderator, you should get a raise or another gig at Fox news.

[trief]

01:30 AM on 10/02/2009

Look up the tax code on bartering. It is not extreme, it is the law. Do some research before you post next time. It will save you from embarrassment. So do you take back what you said? You think libertarians are high and mighty? I will give you the religious right because they want to control people as much as liberals do.

I find it funny that you think taxing bartering is a ridiculous extreme. The only difference between that and an everyday purchase is the use of money (medium of exchange). I am sorry if I come off as arrogant, but I am just so frustrated with the abundance of misinformation out there.

[trief]

01:43 AM on 10/02/2009

The above was my response to global13. I was having moderator troubles.

[global13]

12:46 AM on 10/02/2009

I sure do love hyperbole. Isn't that how Rand made her points? Boy, it's the best way to argue.

[trief]

12:54 AM on 10/02/2009

Which statements have I exaggerated? I believe you are trying to use a word that you don't understand. The word you are looking for is sarcasm. You also fail.

[trief]

01:04 AM on 10/02/2009

Joan, you are a journalist. Please explain to global13 what hyperbole means.

[global13]

01:07 AM on 10/02/2009

Find me a law that says that exchanges of this form are to be taxed. People exchanging clothes that they have already bought can't be taxed. Someone sleeping on a friend's couch and doing work around the house doesn't seem taxable either. Also, extending what you consider to be liberal principles to such a ridiculous extreme certainly classifies as hyperbole. This was also how Rand framed the setting to put forth her philosophy.

I know sarcasm very well. I use it often as demonstrated above. And while I'll grant you that it encompasses almost all of what you typed, it is not the only appropriate descriptor.

I can't decide which is more high and mighty, the religious right or a libertarian.

[Joan E. Dowlin]

12:29 AM on 10/02/2009

Don't let Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh know about this. Sounds like socialism to me.

[trief]

12:38 AM on 10/02/2009

You are so right. Voluntary exchanges between people is the very definition of socialism. You are so smart.

[trief]

12:47 AM on 10/02/2009

How people like you qualify for journalists is beyond comprehension. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh would love this story. People exchanging personal goods and services without government intervention is the very definition of a free market. As a socialist why are you not alerting the FDA, IRS, Department of Agriculture, and Building departments? These people are participating in an underground economy without a central planner calling the shots.

[ResearchtheFacts]

12:26 AM on 10/02/2009

What they are doing is good. You folks have been over-sold on that piece of man made paper called money. It's all you think about and all you dream about. Do you think for one minute your entire existence, your reason for being born was to gather up as much of this man made paper as possible?

Sounds so young and empty.

[trief]

12:40 AM on 10/02/2009

Money is the medium of exchange that makes an economy work. Please research the facts on how money came about.

[Littleguylobby]

12:51 AM on 10/02/2009

If money is so bad, how come nobody except the government ever gives it away.

[yappnmutt]

12:08 AM on 10/02/2009

you know there is a reward for turning in tax cheats.

[trief]

11:39 PM on 10/01/2009

Does this old friend who is sleeping on a couch in exchange for remodeling the house have a contractor's license? Don't worry my new liberal friends, I am on it. I will make sure he is licensed and that the owners of the house are paying for all building permits.

[trief]

11:28 PM on 10/01/2009

Don't worry people, I will put a stop to this free market economy. Who do these people think they are? I have sent emails to the IRS, FDA, and the Department of Agriculture. Who else should I inform? We need to keep tabs on these people. I think I should inform Homeland Security just in case. We don't want some crazies to secede from the union. We need them to support our war and welfare state. To think that these people thought they could get away with producing something without giving some of it to us. Digusting! They should be tried for treason.

[Bushdepression]

09:57 PM on 10/01/2009

The Alternate Economy is growing by leaps and bounds. And it's a good thing.

[Tipotter]

10:04 PM on 10/01/2009

Taxes

[trief]

10:15 PM on 10/01/2009

Woah, big fella! Slow down. You are not advocating a free market are you? People must be subjected to regulation. And when I say regulation I am not just talking about enforcing contracts and punishing fraud. That is what libertarians think. We don't want to go down that road. These people need to pay their fair share to the state and how do we know that they are exchanging goods that are safe for consumption? Does the FDA know about this? If not I will inform them.

I know this will not go through, but I want the moderator to at least think about what I am saying.

[wietog]

09:56 PM on 10/01/2009

Finally, a positive post about the recession that gives us hope! We are all in this together, and that is exactly how relationships get stronger. Everyone is affected somehow. Let's keep looking for positives. I believe that there are lots of silver linings we have yet to discover...

[BillyPilgram57]

09:52 PM on 10/01/2009

Could not figure out the smell on this post........... I know...Trolls

[trief]

09:55 PM on 10/01/2009

Hahahahaha! You are really funny and smart. Will you be my friend?

[BillyPilgram57]

09:57 PM on 10/01/2009

Gotta friend for ya..................

[thedave108]

09:51 PM on 10/01/2009

All the Kings Horses and All the Kings Men - Ain't putting our crappy system back together again..........

Out with the Old and In with the New.....

Yesterday Today was Tomorrow and Tomorrow Today will be Yesterday.....

If Capitalism (aka Some people doing Very Well at the expense of Many doing Not Very Well)
is What You Want then What you Get is What You Got.....

[trief]

09:59 PM on 10/01/2009

Very deep. I can tell you know so much about economics from your post. I have heard some terms recently I don't understand. Can you help me?

moral hazard
rent seeking
malinvestments

[thedave108]

03:38 PM on 10/02/2009

Sure - moral hazard = capitalism

rent seeking - not sure

malinvestments = putting your money in any bank, stock, or ostrich farm

[trief]

09:28 PM on 10/01/2009

Don't worry my liberal friends. These people will not get away with this. I sent an email to the IRS to make sure these people are paying taxes on these voluntary exchanges. This was of course after I called the police to inform them that my neighbor gave my roommate a manicure without a license. People need to follow the regulations. We all need to do our part. Yes We Can!

[Tipotter]

09:36 PM on 10/01/2009

I really hope you did do this.

[trief]

09:45 PM on 10/01/2009

Of course I did. I know how bad free markets are for people. If we had free markets then corporations would not be able to lobby congress to pass regulations that limit competition. Banks that are too big too fail would be subject to failure like all the smaller businesses are. We cannot have that. JP Morgan would have to conduct business without an implicit garauntee that they will be bailed out when their schemes fail. Just ask anticapitalist1983?