The Next Big Thing: Barter

The signs are everywhere: Barter is going to be big.

For example:

• A helicopter-skiing company is offering barter in exchange for stock in tanking companies

• You can barter with a lawyer for legal services

• There's an informational webpage on how to barter for daycare services

• General contractors are offering their services for barter
  

• A professional writer will - for barter - write your love letters
  

Indeed, the Wall Street Journal just wrote an article entitled "Barter Fits the Bill for Strapped Firms", which states:

As small businesses find it impossible to borrow money and customers are slower to pay bills, the barter economy is becoming a crucial way for many companies to find the cash they need to keep operating.***

In 2008, about 250,000 North American companies conducted barter transactions worth more than $16 billion, according to the International Reciprocal Trade Association, a nonprofit based in Portsmouth, Va., that regulates and provides standards for modern trade and barter-service companies.

And given the worsening depression, and the prospect of a devalued dollar, barter might become essential in the future. For example, a respected economist is recommending buying gold and bottles of booze to barter once bailout-induced hyperinflation makes the dollar worthless.