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Greece reverts back to a BARTER economy as global financial system unravels

August 24, 2015

Greece reverts back to a BARTER economy as global financial system unravels


Greece’s finances and its national economy have both deteriorated so dramatically that now average citizens are being forced to do something they haven’t had to do since the country was occupied by Nazi Germany: Barter for their basic needs and essentials.

As reported by Reuters, the rise in bartering comes amid a government-imposed cash squeeze stemming from an Athens-imposed three-week closure of the country’s banks on June 28. Since then government capital controls, put in place to avoid a run on banks, have limited the supply of cash in the hands of ordinary Greeks.

Reuters further reported:

Wild boar and power cuts were Greek cotton farmer Mimis Tsakanikas’ biggest worries until a bank shutdown last month left him stranded without cash to pay suppliers, and his customers without money to pay him.

Squeezed on all sides, the 41-year-old farmer began informal bartering to get around the cash crunch. He now pays some of his workers in kind with his clover crop and exchanges equipment with other farmers instead of buying or renting machinery.

‘It’s a nightmare’

Tsakanikas has become part of an expanding barter economy that many Greeks abhor because they see it as a step back from modern life, Reuters continued. However, many others are embracing it as a means to an end: Short-term economic survival.

When Tsakanikas rented a field in early August, he agreed he would pay for it with a portion of his clover crop.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050888_Greece_barter_economy_financial_collapse.html#ixzz3jjOU62zf

Total Collapse: Greece Reverts To Barter Economy For First Time Since Nazi Occupation

July 29, 2015

Total Collapse: Greece Reverts To Barter Economy For First Time Since Nazi Occupation

Months ago, when Alexis Tsipras, Yanis Varoufakis, and their Syriza compatriots had just swept to power behind an ambitious anti-austerity platform and bold promises about a brighter future for the beleaguered Greek state, we warned that Greece was one or two vacuous threats away from being “digitally bombed back to barter status.”

Subsequently, the Greek economy began to deteriorate in the face of increasingly fraught negotiations between Athens and creditors, with Brussels blaming the economic slide on Syriza’s unwillingness to implement reforms, while analysts and commentators noted that relentless deposit flight and the weakened state of the Greek banking sector was contributing to a liquidity crisis and severe credit contraction.

As of May, 60 businesses were closed and 613 jobs were lost for each business day that the crisis persisted without a resolution.

On the heels of Tsipras’ referendum call and the imposition of capital controls, the bottom fell out completely as businesses found that supplier credit was increasingly difficult to come by, leaving Greeks to consider the possibility that the country would soon face a shortage of imported goods.

On Tuesday, we brought you the latest on the Greek economy when we noted that according to data presented at an extraordinary meeting of the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship, retail sales have fallen 70%, while The Athens Medical Association recently warned that 7,500 doctors have left the country since 2010.

Now, the situation has gotten so bad that our prediction from February has come true. That is, Greece is reverting to a barter economy. Reuters has more:

Wild boar and power cuts were Greek cotton farmer Mimis Tsakanikas’ biggest worries until a bank shutdown last month left him stranded without cash to pay suppliers, and his customers without money to pay him.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

 

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