As the American economy teeters on the brink of the biggest financial meltdown in history, and the proposed $700bn bail-out plan looks set to go down as well as David Blaine's stunt, there is still a small glimmer of hope.
Our ancestors created some incredibly simple things that are essential to our survival: the wheel (which became cogs, spindles, etc.), the aquaduct (which became pipes and plumbing), and barter (which later became economies.) Take away the teeth from a cog and it's still just a wheel. Take the covering off a pipe and it's still a simple aquaduct. Take the insanity out of our modern economy and you have the bedrock, the solid foundation of bartering.
Back in 2000, Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE) revolutionized how barter was traditionally implemented, taking it out of the Stone Age and into the 21st Century. The "Caveman Bank", as it is affectionately known, was created for just such a time as we are currently experiencing. Ridiculed and laughed at for being behind the times, they diligently stuck to their core beliefs and ethics of "100% trade, 100% of the time", same pricing as cash, and no cash-barter blends.
Nobody's laughing now.
Founder and President, Steve Bolles, had the foresight back when everybody else was being duped by the Y2K scare to go back to the drawing board and reinvent barter into the highly effective business tool that is now the MBE trading system. "Everybody told me I was crazy," states Bolles. "They told me it was impossible to trade anything bigger than pizzas for haircuts."
Today, nobody thinks Bolles is crazy. In fact, he is now being lauded as a visionary, possibly the man that can offer the only real solution to the long term survival of our liberties and free way of life. "We simply put secure systems in place to create fair trading at fair prices."
MBE-barter benefits everybody. Business members gain from moving their surplus (time, inventory, or capacity) in exchange for needed hard goods and services they would have paid cash for. They also get the most valuable commodity of all: new clients and word-of-mouth advertising. The consumer benefits also by better service, happier staff, and a more efficient business. And Uncle Sam is happy too, as MBE keeps everything above-board by send out 1099B forms to all members.
Obviously MBE is growing and benefitting as a result of the current economic climate, but as Bolles says, "We can't grow nearly fast enough to help all the people we'd like to." MBE is currently looking for sales professionals and managers, entrepreneurs that wish to own and operate their own local MBE-economies, and news and media professionals seeking more information.
For more information about MBE or barter in general contact: barter4life@gmail.com
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