Money?s Not The Only Medium Of Exchange
In
a ground-breaking legal memoir titled ?Alchemy of Race and Rights?
(Harvard University Press 1992), Columbia Law School Professor
Patricia Williams talks about lessons learned in her community?s
local barter circle.
?Once upon a time some neighbors of mine included me in their circle
of barter. They were in the habit of exchanging eggs and driving
lessons, hand-knit sweaters and computer programming, plumbing and
calligraphy.
?I
accepted the generosity of their inclusion with gratitude. At first,
I felt that, as a lawyer, I had nothing to contribute. What I came
to realize with time, however, was that my value to the group was
not calculated by the physical items I brought to it.
?These people included me because they wanted me to be part of their
circle, they valued my participation apart from the material things
I could offer. So I gave of myself to them, and they gave me fruit
cakes and dandelion wine and smoked salmon, and in their giving,
their goods became provisions.
?Cradled in this community whose currency was a relational ethic,
my stock in myself soared. My value depended on the glorious
intangibility, the eloquent invisibility of my just being part of
the collective, and in direct response I grew spacious and happy and
gentle.?
If
you look past the smoked salmon and the dandelion wine, you will
find the phrase ?currency (of) relational ethic.? Williams is
talking about the intangible value of relations as a means of
exchange rather than, or in addition to, the numeric value of money.
We all benefit when we remind ourselves that money is simply one
medium of exchange, and certainly not the only one.
Mutual
Exploration Creates New Business Opportunities
Interest-based negotiations flourish whenever parties are able to
identify tangible goods or services as well as the intangible
benefits such as recognition, respect and apologies, that might be
available to enhance a monetary exchange.
An
example of this occurred when AT&T was in a 1999 fight with Comcast
corporation for the acquisition of MediaOne Group. All parties were
at impasse until AT&T offered to provide Comcast with surplus AT&T
cable systems that would fill Comcast?s critical need for additional
subscribers?2 million to be exact. In exchange, Comcast withdrew its
$48 billion bid for MediaOne, leaving AT&T as the only potential
purchaser in the field.
Interest-based negotiations such as this deal go beyond evaluating
the strength of the parties? ?positions? by engaging them in a
mutual exploration and assessment of everyone?s needs and
resources?a process that can create new business opportunities or
relationships that increase the value of Business A without
decreasing the value of Business B.
China Has Growing Monetary Concern
By Israel Rivers,
President, Barter of America
We thank Mr. Rivers for sending us the following story on virtual
economies:
At
a fundamental level, all money is virtual. (If it?s no longer tied
to a precious physical product like gold, that is?but then, what
currency is, nowadays?) At root, its worth depends on the value a
group invests in it...whether it?s made of paper, metal, or binary
code. That fairly abstract principle is becoming more apparent to
people, and ironically, it has taken the growing popularity of
online worlds to make it a practical reality.
And
a genuine concern for the Chinese government, which now fears that
the QQ is deflating the official yuan. QQ is the virtual currency
created by Tencent, China?s largest instant messaging platform,
based in Shenzen. Originally, Tencent sold QQ as a fun way for
customers to purchase online games, greeting cards, and so on.
As
the service became more popular, many started treating it as an
alternative to the yuan...using it to, for example, bet in
gambling games and purchase online sex (IM a QQ-girl). The expanding
trade in QQ is so worrisome to Chinese officials they?re issuing
warnings against its unauthorized use.
?The QQ coin is challenging the status of the renminbi [yuan] as the
only legitimate currency in China,? the Asia Times quotes
public prosecutor Yang Tao.
As
with China?s virtual gold farms, it?s easy to see this as a future
international trend in the making. All three next generation
consoles?Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PS3?include microcurrency
systems and, like the QQ, are designed for purchasing games and
other products from their online networks.
But
with tens of millions of players who find value in these virtual
currencies, what?s to stop them from using it for purchasing other
goods and services from each other? And given the volatility of real
money, should they be stopped?
Hotel
General Managers
Here?s
The Easiest $100,000 You?ll Ever
Bring To The Bottomline!
Collect
cash, as usual, from the guest accounts staying at your
facility that require the use of professional AV services.
And rather than shouldering your ongoing employee costs, or
your current vendor?s cash agreement for AV services,
here?s a much better alternative:
Work
with a proven national vendor (a sterling 25-year track
record) who will provide all of the AV services for your
hotel on a 100% TRADE BASIS! (Payment to be in the form of
hotel rooms and/or trade dollars.)
Your hotel?s annual AV billings must be a minimum of $200,000, and this
offer is available only in the continental United States.
For a
confidential introduction contact Bob Meyer via e-mail:
bmeyer@barternews.com.
(Please type in AV Services On Trade in the subject
line of your e-mail.)
Attention Trade Exchange Owners:
If your
member hotel(s) have a minimum of 10,000 sq. feet of meeting
space and annual billings of at least $200,000 for AV
services this is a great opportunity to earn substantial
cash service fees on the hundreds of thousands of trade
dollars your hotel member will be paying the vendor. Contact
Bob Meyer at the above e-mail. |
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The Growth and Use of Secondary Capital (New Money) Creates
Unprecedented Wealth In Today?s New Age Of Possibility
There are
many forms of secondary capital?which can be defined as any
financial instrument that measures and communicates value in a
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We have 70
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www.barternews.com/secondary_capital.htm.
Trade Exchange Owners...
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