Okay Obama fans, first the good news:
GOOD NEWS: you more than proved you can act as a united force to unify your support and get out and spread the word and vote. Look what happened, you helped make history. But the bad news...
BAD NEWS: that was the easy part!
I'm not really sure (and certainly if I were Obama, I'd not be relishing January 20th) he's still partying it up about the victory you led him to. Take a peek at the facts of what he's walking into:
THE FACTS:
1. We are faced with the biggest global economic catastrophe in history
2. The Feds don't seem to have any real solutions. "Let's cut the rate - again!" just won't cut it any more.
3. Bankruptcies are up 28% and still rising
4. Unemployment is at an all-time high - and I predict will definately hit 10%
5. Consumer confidence is down 40%
6. I'm not even going to mention the housing market!
Trust me, I'm an extremely optimistic person and always try to look on the bright side, but this is like standing on the high board of a pool without knowing how to swim looking down at a bunch of very hungry sharks! What really worries me is that most people don't seem to be as scared as me, or even scared at all. Am I hallucinating this impending depression, or is everybody else drinking some LSD-loaded KoolAid?
My business is barter, via my company Merchants Barter Exchange, and as such I deal with sales people and business owners all day long. Almost everybody is putting a 'brave face' on things. Believe me, Obama is not going to wave a magic wand on January 20th and make all these bad dreams go away! But there is some good news:
GOOD NEWS: if Obama and his supporters are prepared to put in the same (or more) effort it took to get him elected, we may be able to speed the recovery process. This isn't intended as a sales pitch, however I cannot help but be a little biased due to all the great work Merchants Barter Exchange has been doing for over eight years preparing and supporting businesses for just this situation.
YOU can help the problem by becoming part of the solution. Just getting out and voting was a good start, but that is all it was. If that is all your participation is going to be and you are going to flop back down on your 'welfare' or 'entitlement' couch and watch as everybody else does the work, then you really didn't do justice to the campaign you voted for.
OBAMA needed your help then and he needs it now and will continue to need it on a daily basis until we are out of this economic catastrophe. So, what can you do...? Well, for starters you can badger your politicians and get them to see that the stimulous package actual stimulates something useful. You can also spread the word (twitter, email, blog, call, whatever - do everything you can) to everybody and anybody that will listen - just like you did during the campaign - that we all need to work as a team. Tell your local business owners to call Merchants Barter Exchange to help them save cash on things they need. Tell local entrepreneurs about MBE and get them involved. Now more than ever before we need a strong, serious back-up economy.
2009 needs to see the power of the people stand behind Obama-nomics, and Obama-nomics has to include MBE-barter as part of his success strategy otherwise we are on a very slippery slope to a bottomless pit. As he says, "It's gonna get worse before it gets better." Be prepared for a tough battle, but the end result can be very positive.
Let's pull together as a nation and show the rest of the world where our true strength lies, in the UNITED States of the American People.
Thanks for reading, now get twittering... texting... emailing... and lay the foundations for Obama to make some serious progress in January 2009.
Showing posts with label barter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barter. Show all posts
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Negotiating your way around a tough economy
Anybody that’s a fan of bartering is a fan of mine.
Barter is the bedrock of ALL economics… it’s the “bedrock trampoline” a crashing economy smashes into before it eventually bounces back.
If you’re in business and you don’t barter directly with other business owners, or use an ethical, regulated barter company such as Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE), you’re seriously missing out on multiple benefits. That goes for the good economic time AND the bad economic times.
Just imagine how much business you’d lose if you didn’t accept credit cards…? How much business are you losing by not using the MBE barter system…?
Let’s hope people don’t let this country go the way Argentina did back in 2002 and HAD TO use barter because the country went BANKRUPT.
Barter is the bedrock of ALL economics… it’s the “bedrock trampoline” a crashing economy smashes into before it eventually bounces back.
If you’re in business and you don’t barter directly with other business owners, or use an ethical, regulated barter company such as Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE), you’re seriously missing out on multiple benefits. That goes for the good economic time AND the bad economic times.
Just imagine how much business you’d lose if you didn’t accept credit cards…? How much business are you losing by not using the MBE barter system…?
Let’s hope people don’t let this country go the way Argentina did back in 2002 and HAD TO use barter because the country went BANKRUPT.
New Economic Revolution Needed...?
Quoting Einstein, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
That said, $700 BILLION... the lunacy (I can't think of another word for proposing such a ridiculous short term solution to a problem that was allowed to happen for so many years) that is happening in the economy right now, really is insane.
I am feeling rather smug, with that "I told you so" look on my face, though. Why?
For three years people have been telling me I was crazy for working so diligently for Merchants Barter Exchange - a new (launched eight years ago) company to help businesses trade for things at the same price as cash using the barter system - it even cost me my marriage, but I knew the economy was headed for a fall like this.
We are now being lauded as "futurists". Call us futurists if you want to, but for us the writing has been on the wall for many years: our economy is down the toilet and is not going to be solved by "bubble-gum politics". The only way to save the US economy is Merchants Barter Exchange.
The people "pulling the strings" now have their dirty little fingers on the flusher handle.
Barter, as an economic system, has outlived Kings and Queens, Empires, World Wars, Governments, recessions... It is the bedrock trampoline every economy hits when it crashes.
Thankfully Merchants Barter Exchange had the foresight to create their highly effective method of bartering 100%, same as cash, 100% of the time.
If there's anybody out there that really thinks $700 billion is really going to fix this problem, you probably also believed that the Titanic could have been saved with a large enough piece of bubble gum. Folks, please stop drinking the Kool Aid... and I tell you what, you can buy a lot of Kool Aid with $700 billion dollars.
Rant over, just had to get that little thing off my chest. Phew!
That said, $700 BILLION... the lunacy (I can't think of another word for proposing such a ridiculous short term solution to a problem that was allowed to happen for so many years) that is happening in the economy right now, really is insane.
I am feeling rather smug, with that "I told you so" look on my face, though. Why?
For three years people have been telling me I was crazy for working so diligently for Merchants Barter Exchange - a new (launched eight years ago) company to help businesses trade for things at the same price as cash using the barter system - it even cost me my marriage, but I knew the economy was headed for a fall like this.
We are now being lauded as "futurists". Call us futurists if you want to, but for us the writing has been on the wall for many years: our economy is down the toilet and is not going to be solved by "bubble-gum politics". The only way to save the US economy is Merchants Barter Exchange.
The people "pulling the strings" now have their dirty little fingers on the flusher handle.
Barter, as an economic system, has outlived Kings and Queens, Empires, World Wars, Governments, recessions... It is the bedrock trampoline every economy hits when it crashes.
Thankfully Merchants Barter Exchange had the foresight to create their highly effective method of bartering 100%, same as cash, 100% of the time.
If there's anybody out there that really thinks $700 billion is really going to fix this problem, you probably also believed that the Titanic could have been saved with a large enough piece of bubble gum. Folks, please stop drinking the Kool Aid... and I tell you what, you can buy a lot of Kool Aid with $700 billion dollars.
Rant over, just had to get that little thing off my chest. Phew!
Merchants Barter Exchange Fighting Recession
Barter is booming in the dwingling economy. MBE helping to support businesses.
Whilst presidential candidates merely talk about economic solutions that might help the current financial crisis, Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE) continues to actively help businesses around the country bolster themselves against the recession.
Since streamlining the barter system over seven years ago, MBE has helped businesses around the country benefit from the age-old concept of trading goods and services instead of tying up their cash. The MBE system allows businesses to move slow-moving or surplus inventory, increase revenues, maximize efficiency, gain more customers, and improve cash flow with a simple and effective concept that's been around for millennia.
"With our '100% trade, 100% of the time' system and efficient brokering department, we've made barter a simple and essential medium for any sized business," states Steve Bolles, president. Every Fortune 500 company has known the value and benefit of barter, but until the cost-effective simplicity of the MBE system and its safeguards against misuse (price-gouging or cash-barter blends), the effective application for small and medium sized companies has been limited.
MBE has steadily grown in size around the country, but is currently experiencing unprecedented growth due to the recession-proof nature of their business model. "Revolutionizing an industry is a challenging prospect and hasn't always been easy," says Bolles. "These are exciting times for our company and this latest growth makes the journey and struggles we've endured all the more rewarding."
For more information about their national licensing program, employment opportunities, or membership eligibility, please contact:952-334-1226
Merchants Barter Exchange
www.merchantsbarter.com
Whilst presidential candidates merely talk about economic solutions that might help the current financial crisis, Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE) continues to actively help businesses around the country bolster themselves against the recession.
Since streamlining the barter system over seven years ago, MBE has helped businesses around the country benefit from the age-old concept of trading goods and services instead of tying up their cash. The MBE system allows businesses to move slow-moving or surplus inventory, increase revenues, maximize efficiency, gain more customers, and improve cash flow with a simple and effective concept that's been around for millennia.
"With our '100% trade, 100% of the time' system and efficient brokering department, we've made barter a simple and essential medium for any sized business," states Steve Bolles, president. Every Fortune 500 company has known the value and benefit of barter, but until the cost-effective simplicity of the MBE system and its safeguards against misuse (price-gouging or cash-barter blends), the effective application for small and medium sized companies has been limited.
MBE has steadily grown in size around the country, but is currently experiencing unprecedented growth due to the recession-proof nature of their business model. "Revolutionizing an industry is a challenging prospect and hasn't always been easy," says Bolles. "These are exciting times for our company and this latest growth makes the journey and struggles we've endured all the more rewarding."
For more information about their national licensing program, employment opportunities, or membership eligibility, please contact:952-334-1226
Merchants Barter Exchange
www.merchantsbarter.com
Barter Exchanges Catch On as Credit Tightens
Small businesses find that trading for goods and services not only conserves cash; it can also substitute for borrowing and rack up savings
Shawn Cressman, president of Cressman's Lawn & Tree Care, the business his father started 33 years ago in Bethlehem, Pa., has occasionally engaged in bartering with other outfits over the years. But transactions were usually informal and not necessarily directly tied to the company's bottom line.
These days, though, Cressman sees bartering as a significant way to reduce cash outflow. Last fall he joined the Stroudsburg (Pa.) Merchants Barter Exchange, an association that coordinates and organizes trading of products and services among its more than 10,000 business members. In September, when the transmission blew on one of the firm's trucks, Cressman turned to the exchange and bartered for a replacement. "That would have cost between $1,500 and $2,000, and that was not in my budget," he says. He also bartered to acquire a $4,000 piece of stone-crushing equipment. "I probably wouldn't have bought one this year," he says. "It would have had too much of an impact on my cash flow." But as a result of strategic bartering, Cressman estimates he has been able to save about $6,000 total so far this year.
In recent years, bartering has gained currency as a relatively easy path for small outfits to attain goods and services without having to dig into their coffers. It has also become a successful channel to attract new customers and expand one's business. According to the most recent numbers compiled by the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) in Mentor, Ohio, some 400 barter exchanges in the U.S. and Canada generate transactions worth $4 billion a year.
On the Upswing
And now, with banks cutting back on credit lines or shutting them down altogether, the use of barter has gained renewed momentum. Notably, Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, last month announced it planned to barter rice for oil from Iran, one of world's top 10 rice importers. For small businesses, ramping up their own use of barter is a strategy that allows them to reserve cash and still expand operations at a time when credit lines have yet to thaw.
Tom McDowell, executive director of NATE, says he has seen a 10% to 12% increase in new clients joining organized barter exchanges. "Suddenly, [business owners] were running into different obstacles, and they started looking for other avenues for resources, not just credit," he says. "The interesting thing that is happening in this economy is that businesses still have inventory and capacity. They still have expenses. What they don't have is customers."
Barter exchanges (BusinessWeek SmallBiz, 4/16/08) are fee-based membership groups. Typically, barter dollars are issued when a member performs a service or offers a product that can then be used to purchase goods or services of another member within the exchange. (The exchange receives a commission on the "purchase" side of the transaction.) Most exchanges work on a 50-50 cash-to-barter system, while others, such as Merchants Barter Exchange, operate as a 100% barter trade system. Most offer lines of credit that can be used to snap up a host of items, from carpet cleaning services to office supplies to large equipment.
A Way to Get Credit
Merchants' founder, Steve Bolles, says membership in his eight-year-old exchange, which has offices in 30 states, has tripled this year. As the financial situation remains bleak, Merchants continues to ramp up clients. "Just 18 months ago, when we would go and talk to business owners about signing up, they would say, 'We don't need to talk to you.' Now everybody gives us an appointment." A strong inducement: "Everyone we sign up gets a line of credit right away," Bolles says.
"Most people are looking to conserve cash," says Ralph Sigler, who owns Carolina Packaging & Supply in Raleigh, N.C., and belongs to two different exchanges. "We started bartering about 12 years ago. The way we were growing, it made sense to substitute barter dollars for cash dollars." Sigler says he bartered to obtain everything from security system installations to letterhead and envelopes. "I've saved anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000 a year by bartering, and I've also taken on a lot of new accounts."
Bartering serves as another avenue to help keep businesses afloat. "I would say my bartering has gone up 20% in the past six months," says Mike Cody, owner of Chip & Crack Windshield Repair in Garner, N.C. "At first I used it for hotel stays and gifts to employees." Now he says he has begun to barter to obtain equipment for his business instead of having to spend cash. "If I were to make a guess, I'd say that I've saved over $1,000 this year."
"Eventually we will see a shift in thinking," says NATE's McDowell. "What will happen is that people who were reluctant to use the credit line, or used it sparingly, will see the tremendous credit crunch and will look for new resources. They will find that they can use trade exchanges."
Perman is a staff writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.
Shawn Cressman, president of Cressman's Lawn & Tree Care, the business his father started 33 years ago in Bethlehem, Pa., has occasionally engaged in bartering with other outfits over the years. But transactions were usually informal and not necessarily directly tied to the company's bottom line.
These days, though, Cressman sees bartering as a significant way to reduce cash outflow. Last fall he joined the Stroudsburg (Pa.) Merchants Barter Exchange, an association that coordinates and organizes trading of products and services among its more than 10,000 business members. In September, when the transmission blew on one of the firm's trucks, Cressman turned to the exchange and bartered for a replacement. "That would have cost between $1,500 and $2,000, and that was not in my budget," he says. He also bartered to acquire a $4,000 piece of stone-crushing equipment. "I probably wouldn't have bought one this year," he says. "It would have had too much of an impact on my cash flow." But as a result of strategic bartering, Cressman estimates he has been able to save about $6,000 total so far this year.
In recent years, bartering has gained currency as a relatively easy path for small outfits to attain goods and services without having to dig into their coffers. It has also become a successful channel to attract new customers and expand one's business. According to the most recent numbers compiled by the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) in Mentor, Ohio, some 400 barter exchanges in the U.S. and Canada generate transactions worth $4 billion a year.
On the Upswing
And now, with banks cutting back on credit lines or shutting them down altogether, the use of barter has gained renewed momentum. Notably, Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, last month announced it planned to barter rice for oil from Iran, one of world's top 10 rice importers. For small businesses, ramping up their own use of barter is a strategy that allows them to reserve cash and still expand operations at a time when credit lines have yet to thaw.
Tom McDowell, executive director of NATE, says he has seen a 10% to 12% increase in new clients joining organized barter exchanges. "Suddenly, [business owners] were running into different obstacles, and they started looking for other avenues for resources, not just credit," he says. "The interesting thing that is happening in this economy is that businesses still have inventory and capacity. They still have expenses. What they don't have is customers."
Barter exchanges (BusinessWeek SmallBiz, 4/16/08) are fee-based membership groups. Typically, barter dollars are issued when a member performs a service or offers a product that can then be used to purchase goods or services of another member within the exchange. (The exchange receives a commission on the "purchase" side of the transaction.) Most exchanges work on a 50-50 cash-to-barter system, while others, such as Merchants Barter Exchange, operate as a 100% barter trade system. Most offer lines of credit that can be used to snap up a host of items, from carpet cleaning services to office supplies to large equipment.
A Way to Get Credit
Merchants' founder, Steve Bolles, says membership in his eight-year-old exchange, which has offices in 30 states, has tripled this year. As the financial situation remains bleak, Merchants continues to ramp up clients. "Just 18 months ago, when we would go and talk to business owners about signing up, they would say, 'We don't need to talk to you.' Now everybody gives us an appointment." A strong inducement: "Everyone we sign up gets a line of credit right away," Bolles says.
"Most people are looking to conserve cash," says Ralph Sigler, who owns Carolina Packaging & Supply in Raleigh, N.C., and belongs to two different exchanges. "We started bartering about 12 years ago. The way we were growing, it made sense to substitute barter dollars for cash dollars." Sigler says he bartered to obtain everything from security system installations to letterhead and envelopes. "I've saved anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000 a year by bartering, and I've also taken on a lot of new accounts."
Bartering serves as another avenue to help keep businesses afloat. "I would say my bartering has gone up 20% in the past six months," says Mike Cody, owner of Chip & Crack Windshield Repair in Garner, N.C. "At first I used it for hotel stays and gifts to employees." Now he says he has begun to barter to obtain equipment for his business instead of having to spend cash. "If I were to make a guess, I'd say that I've saved over $1,000 this year."
"Eventually we will see a shift in thinking," says NATE's McDowell. "What will happen is that people who were reluctant to use the credit line, or used it sparingly, will see the tremendous credit crunch and will look for new resources. They will find that they can use trade exchanges."
Perman is a staff writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.
A New Breed of Barter Exchange Brings Hope to American Business
Anybody reading the headlines these days knows the world teeters on the biggest worldwide recession in modern history and our leaders are scrambling for solutions. It is very timely that I recently had the opportunity of interviewing Mr Steve Bolles, founder and President of Merchants Barter Exchange, one of America’s great innovators of economic change and stability right now. Bolles is far from reclusive, but rarely entertains interviews, however due to the seriousness of the current global crisis he extended this offer.
For those unfamiliar with barter, what is Merchants Barter Exchange and what does it do?
Historically barter is the one-on-one exchange of similar or like-valued goods or services instead of using cash or currency. Merchants Barter Exchange is an ever-growing national network of diversified business owners that utilize the simplicity, ease and efficiency of our MBE-barter system to trade for multiple hard goods and services at the same price as cash with other members of our network. In short we have created an alternative payment mechanism for business owners to turn what they have too much of (time, inventory, or capacity - in essence their inefficiency) into positive revenue, increased cash flow, better marketing, and save a bunch of cash as they do so.
What was your inspiration behind Merchants Barter Exchange?
Back in the 90s I had another business and was a member of an older and very different kind of barter company. The more I used their antiquated mechanism, the more I noticed many flaws and huge areas of improvement. They had no systems in place to prevent people inflating the price of their goods or services, or price gouging, they also charged when a client bought and when they sold, they didn’t seem to have much control over how people traded and with whom, and even allowed members to pay part in cash and part in trade, which didn’t seem to make any sense to me. Most of the other members I dealt with were very unhappy with the overall system. That’s when I started to look for a better barter company, but after extensive research I discovered that every single barter company had the same flaws and challenges.
So what did you do to make Merchants Barter Exchange so different?
Firstly, we centralized the control and the membership list. This allowed us to ensure we only sent members brand new business and were not converting cash clients to trade clients. It also ensured we had secure systems in place to stop people charging more than they would for a cash transaction. It didn’t make any sense to pay more because it was barter, as you lost all the economical benefits. Since we have the control, we are able to expel any member that should try to break the rules that keep our system running effectively. Secondly, with control of the integrity and value of the MBE-barter dollar, it allowed us to do large and small trades for our members. I believe we are the only national barter company that can brag the ability to do $100,000 printing jobs 100% on trade with no cash element. Thirdly, since our system worked so well, we expanded very rapidly and needed to develop a solid and ongoing direct sales division to ensure we were able to meet as many of our members needs as we could. To date I think we have the best fulfillment rate and the greatest client retention rate (95%) of any barter company in the US.
What are you currently doing to ease the crisis in the US economy?
Even though we have grown steadily since we began in 2000, we are nowhere nearly as large as I would have liked us to be by now to help the millions of small business owners around the US, and around the world that can benefit from the MBE-barter system. Right now we are working on rolling out our corporate licensing program as fast as we can to reach as many new businesses and as many new cities around the US as we can. The major challenge has been screening the right entrepreneurial candidates that not only have the investment capital to buy in, but have the right morals, ethics, and responsibility for us to allow the priviledge to own and operate a local sales region. We are helping all those we can right now and improving the lives of our members and people in their communities, in time we will help increasingly more individuals.
Looking to the future, do you have any plans to expand beyond the US?
Absolutely! Our primary focus obviously is to assist the American business owners right now, however we created our business model to be a global monetary alternative. We already have interest from other countries around the world eager to implement our system into their economies. When the time is right we’ll definately expand internationally. Everything in good time.
I also heard you’re working on a book, is this true?
Yes. I’ve been co-collaborating on a book about the industry and the major differences and functions of the MBE-barter system with a close colleague in the industry. Right now we have more pressing issues to deal with and the book project has taken a slight back seat. We’ll finish it in due course, but it’s been an interesting project to work on.
For those unfamiliar with barter, what is Merchants Barter Exchange and what does it do?
Historically barter is the one-on-one exchange of similar or like-valued goods or services instead of using cash or currency. Merchants Barter Exchange is an ever-growing national network of diversified business owners that utilize the simplicity, ease and efficiency of our MBE-barter system to trade for multiple hard goods and services at the same price as cash with other members of our network. In short we have created an alternative payment mechanism for business owners to turn what they have too much of (time, inventory, or capacity - in essence their inefficiency) into positive revenue, increased cash flow, better marketing, and save a bunch of cash as they do so.
What was your inspiration behind Merchants Barter Exchange?
Back in the 90s I had another business and was a member of an older and very different kind of barter company. The more I used their antiquated mechanism, the more I noticed many flaws and huge areas of improvement. They had no systems in place to prevent people inflating the price of their goods or services, or price gouging, they also charged when a client bought and when they sold, they didn’t seem to have much control over how people traded and with whom, and even allowed members to pay part in cash and part in trade, which didn’t seem to make any sense to me. Most of the other members I dealt with were very unhappy with the overall system. That’s when I started to look for a better barter company, but after extensive research I discovered that every single barter company had the same flaws and challenges.
So what did you do to make Merchants Barter Exchange so different?
Firstly, we centralized the control and the membership list. This allowed us to ensure we only sent members brand new business and were not converting cash clients to trade clients. It also ensured we had secure systems in place to stop people charging more than they would for a cash transaction. It didn’t make any sense to pay more because it was barter, as you lost all the economical benefits. Since we have the control, we are able to expel any member that should try to break the rules that keep our system running effectively. Secondly, with control of the integrity and value of the MBE-barter dollar, it allowed us to do large and small trades for our members. I believe we are the only national barter company that can brag the ability to do $100,000 printing jobs 100% on trade with no cash element. Thirdly, since our system worked so well, we expanded very rapidly and needed to develop a solid and ongoing direct sales division to ensure we were able to meet as many of our members needs as we could. To date I think we have the best fulfillment rate and the greatest client retention rate (95%) of any barter company in the US.
What are you currently doing to ease the crisis in the US economy?
Even though we have grown steadily since we began in 2000, we are nowhere nearly as large as I would have liked us to be by now to help the millions of small business owners around the US, and around the world that can benefit from the MBE-barter system. Right now we are working on rolling out our corporate licensing program as fast as we can to reach as many new businesses and as many new cities around the US as we can. The major challenge has been screening the right entrepreneurial candidates that not only have the investment capital to buy in, but have the right morals, ethics, and responsibility for us to allow the priviledge to own and operate a local sales region. We are helping all those we can right now and improving the lives of our members and people in their communities, in time we will help increasingly more individuals.
Looking to the future, do you have any plans to expand beyond the US?
Absolutely! Our primary focus obviously is to assist the American business owners right now, however we created our business model to be a global monetary alternative. We already have interest from other countries around the world eager to implement our system into their economies. When the time is right we’ll definately expand internationally. Everything in good time.
I also heard you’re working on a book, is this true?
Yes. I’ve been co-collaborating on a book about the industry and the major differences and functions of the MBE-barter system with a close colleague in the industry. Right now we have more pressing issues to deal with and the book project has taken a slight back seat. We’ll finish it in due course, but it’s been an interesting project to work on.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
MBE-Barter: Serious CPR For An Economic Meltdown
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
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
Use a BARTER-BAND-AID, It's Cheaper Than A $700bn Bail-Out.
As with most simple things, it is often a matter of not being able to see the wood for the trees. So it would appear is the case of the "$700bn bail-out".For a number of days now, we have our country's so-called best political and economic minds thrashing out a plan that may or may not work. The major worry, is that it is a mere "Band Aid" solution, not a cure. Just like Western medicine - the take a pill and see what happens system - this quick fix does not address the real underlying issues, and nobody really seems sure what the side-effects might be. Personally I'm glad they are taking their time.As with my opening statement, and I've mentioned it a lot recently (even before this crisis) the short AND long term solution to our current economic situation has been staring us right in the face for thousands of years, and the actual mechanism that will effectively allow it to happen has been perfected since 2000.Obviously I am biased towards Merchants Barter Exchange (MBE) because I am a part of the corporation, however one of the major reasons I joined the company and have been so active is that it was obvious that a well organized, secure, controlled and effective "back-up economy" was going to be VERY necessary years ago when the wave of IRRESPONSIBLE lending began.The talk about the necessity of this bail out plan because of the restriction of credit and the ensuing lay-offs, etc that will happen as a result can all be resolved very quickly and simply by all the worried companies (and CAT has been mentioned often in the news) joining the Merchants Barter Exchange network.MBE acts as a fair trading clearing house/ brokerage that moves companies' surplus time, inventory and capacity. Unlike the other so-called barter companies that are lurking around out there (and I'm sure they are not all bad - just some are worse than others in their practices) MBE conducts ALL of their barter transactions 100% on trade at the same prices as cash. The system has been so perfected that should the economy really tank before the whole network can roll out nationally (which could be achieved well before Christmas with the right incentive) employees can also benefit from the MBE program.As a company we have been ready and willing to discuss this with all the major players. Politicians (and we won't name any names) have been regularly contacted and warned, likewise many news sources and major business players. Thus far no major bites... Me wonders if they are still looking at the trees wondering how they are going to make an Ark large enough to survive this impending tsunami.Do it, don't do it, but as the folks on the Titanic found out... when there aren't enough liferafts... there simply aren't enough liferafts.
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