A Return to Barter By James Reed

     After economic collapse, comes barter, where people set up an alternative economy and trade what little they have left. Barter has its problems, such as finding someone willing to exchange the goods you want, for the goods you have, but beyond that, it is only sustainable for as long as the basic goods exist. Without new production, things will then go back to hunting and gathering.
  https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-12/venezuelas-socialist-hyperinflation-turned-people-back-barter-system

“In the wake of socialist Venezuela’s massive hyperinflation, citizens have returned to the original monetary system in order to survive. While it is virtually impossible to visualize the inflationary trend in Venezuela, Bloomberg’s Cafe Con Leche index signals a roughly comparable level of 43,478%. More absurdly, annualizing the last three months of data, paints an even more dismal picture: inflation of 482,153%. Looking at just the past month, Reuters reports that June inflation accelerated to 128.4%, the fastest this year, from 110.1% in May, according to opposition legislator Angel Alvarado. Even more shocking, food prices rose by 183% in June. “It is by far the worst hyperinflation suffered by a Latin American country,” Alvarado said in an interview. The barter system is now prevalent in the collapsed economy of the authoritarian dictator, Nicolas Maduro.

     I had just finished the above when my brother rang from Adelaide. His son had visited Venezuela last month, as part of his “rebellious youth does South America to terrify ageing parents tour.” He said that Venezuela was a “scary” place to visit, and no sooner had he got there, he wanted to leave. It was like walking into a shooting gallery with a big tourist target on his chest. He saw children fighting with machetes for food scraps from bins. Cannibalism would be next on the menu, he thought:
  https://gegsustainablefood.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/in-venezuela-hungry-child-gangs-use-machetes-to-fight-for-quality-garbage/
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufFOghMt1yI

     As things are going, this is likely to be a blueprint of how the West will fall:
  https://www.biohistory.org/