On Sat, 07 Sep 2013 09:39:19 -0500, F. George McDuffee
wrote:

On Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:58:28 -0500, F. George McDuffee
wrote:

snip
If you want a third world society and culture, create a
third world economy. If you want a third word economy, pay
third world wages... Unka' George
snip

Although the above has been dismissed by several posters,
one of the characteristics of a third world economy is the
large unofficial or underground economy and increasing use
of barter.

I believe that statement is somewhat misleading.

I've lived in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia during various periods
during their development and while there is a certain amount of barter
it isn't carried out in an "underground" or "evasion of official"
sense. If you are a rice growing farmer and have a neighbor who raises
chickens it only makes sense to trade a kilo of rice for a dozen eggs
rather then go the long way round and sell your rice to get cash and
pay the cash to your neighbor for his eggs which will provide him with
sufficient money to buy some rice. But you can be sure that the value
of rice and eggs is established by the prices in the open market.

I might also comment that this barter system is not really increasing,
other then as a side effect of an increase in population.

The following article seems to indicate a large and growing
unofficial or underground economy in the US.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-e...175850505.html

--
Cheers,

John B.