Quote:
Originally Posted by Messianic
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
2. (Business / Commerce) (intr) to haggle over the terms of such an exchange; bargain
Freedictionary fail.
Barter's primary meaning in a modern context is "to trade without money," but all organic money (gold, silver, etc) was originally a barter (until some government provides legal tender laws), and the secondary meaning doesn't necessarily require the user to exclude money from the equation.
You may return to your regularly scheduled trolling.
|
Gets tricky tho, bro.
Gold, silver and paper currency are the medium of exchange for the barter. You don't normally trade
for gold or any other medium, because it only enables you to
complete the barter for other goods and/or services. Yes, you
can barter for a medium of exchange itself, but it will not lose its inherent value when exchanged for other goods and services.
An easy way to look at it is:
Johnny wants to trade his shoes to Jimmy for Jimmy's watch. Jimmy says "Bugger off...the watch is worth 10X what the shoes are."
Johnny says "OK...I have these gold coins that other people will exchange stuff for." (Johnny got the coins from his dad's dresser drawer). Jimmy says "Sure!" and goes and exchanges the gold coins for a Mercedes Benz and a BJ.
Moral of the story is, Johnny prolly plays P99 all day instead of going to school, Jimmy is from SZ, and when there's a medium of exchange, some people get screwed.