"Michael A. Terrell" on Sun, 11 Nov 2012
00:35:09 -0500 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

pyotr filipivich wrote:

Great, now you have a collection of soft metal of little
applicable use. OTOH, "look - shiny stuff!"

Sigh - in a crisis, start with the "top" - will they take credit
cards? Or check, or greenbacks, or "cold cash (read that as gold or
silver coins), gold jewelry, "trade goods"? And in that order.

"Malevil" 1972 - set in France, Protagonist owns a castle from the
Hundred years war, hence the title. WW3 fries France. He and friends
survive, more by luck than anything else. Later, they contact
survivors in a nearby village, and their offer to trade food for the
two mares is accepted. Bad move - even in France, you want to be
careful when dealing with Horse Traders. Because Monsieur Emanuel
Comte knows that he will now have a monopoly on horse production in
the "valley".

But while he is saddling up the mares, one of the minions of the
local 'warlord' shakes Emanuel down - and Emanuel "buys" him off with
a gold ring. Because he, Emanuel knows, it will be a long time till
this part of France is back on the gold standard, or any currency.
Horses, wheat, spare parts, "knowledge" (trade skills) are going to be
the medium of trade for the duration.
That's about how I see it. The only things worth trading for in that
situation is something you NEED to ensure your survival.

Way back in the early 1800, it was discovered that the Natives
along the Puget Sound were quite eager to get their hands on iron - in
any form. So a consortium loaded a ship with all the scrap iron in
Boston they could stuff in a ship, and shipped it around the horn to
what is now "Seattle". And traded all that scrap for fur pelts.
Both sides got rid of "useless stuff" in exchange for "really
valuable" stuff. Ripped them off badly.

If they will take a lot of useless "stuff" in exchange for useful
stuff, who am I to complain? Example, the Indians who "sold"
Manhattan to the Dutch in exchange for "$24 in junk jewelry" -
actually were selling their transit rights - the island wasn't theirs
to sell. Yep, the Indians ripped off the white men.

--
pyotr
Go not to the Net for answers, for it will tell you Yes and no. And
you are a bloody fool, only an ignorant cretin would even ask the
question, forty two, 47, the second door, and how many blonde lawyers
does it take to change a lightbulb.