What is Art4Barter?

(Antonio Puri and Henry Bermudez are inviting you to the first exhibition of their Art4Barter project. The following article was submitted by them.)

It hit us that bartering may be the answer to bail us out of our current crisis. Although artists have historically been bartering as much as possible we feel it is more relevant now than ever before. It can provide a solution to survival for so many of us and create a new vision for society.

We propose, as a start, an exhibition of eleven exceptional artists from diverse backgrounds, and will present their works for barter. No works shall be sold for money but rather for services and goods. The exact service or product that the artist requires will be on the label next to their art.

For example, if an artist were to ask for dental work or other medical procedures in exchange for their art, or for a studio to work in, etc., it will give the community an opportunity to barter for those items that are missing from the artists� lives.

The irony is that art is missing from the lives of many people too, because it is treated as a luxury item and not as an essential part of our lives. This system will not only inspire people to trade with artists, musicians, writers, dancers, and other creative minds, it will also make society less judgmental about valuing different services. When this becomes the norm, bartering will be a respectable activity and will create relationships between people from different trades.

Society will be able to provide opportunities to artists that were inconceivable before this. In addition to being one of the greatest human events in the beginning of the new millennium, we are also expressing a change that the rest of humanity can participate in.

By creating a vision of a new cultural standard, whereby people can get through hard financial times by participating in a win-win situation. This idea can spread to people from all societies of the world, but we envision it will begin in our community of Philadelphia.

Attention Trade Exchange Owners. . .It�s GROW OR GO!

The magic bullet for growth is sales, always has been and always will be...yet the industry�s overall growth is anemic. Why? Maybe it�s because we�re not providing on-going education about our unique way of doing business. Knowledge is always a pre-requisite to taking sustained action.

And for those newcomers, the lifeblood of an exchange, awareness of and understanding about the value of trading is even more important.

If you expect prospects to come aboard and your members to be more active traders, but you are perplexed when the results are less than you desire...there�s a good reason. You must continually educate and motivate every month--month after month after month!

Such action is necessary because, let�s face it, more cash business, not trade, is of paramount importance to your members. You must break through this �cash only� focus and redirect their thinking toward barter. Although most exchanges don�t see the importance of doing so, many industry leaders are taking action and so can you.

As the owner of your own operation, there is an easy and inexpensive solution for moving forward...look into using The Competitive Edge newsletter. It�s a camera-ready, 4-page, professionally written, informational marketing tool...available in PDF format as well as print. So regardless of how you reach your prospects and clients, you will have the necessary vehicle.

Written especially for you, the busy trade exchange owner, I am certain it will be the best investment you ever make.

For more information about The Competitive Edge, and how it can benefit you click here.

Gift Cards For Purchasing Electricity

(Submitted to BarterNews by Robert Hahl of Kilowatt Cards.)

Kilowatt Cards are gift cards that can be redeemed to pay for 10 kilowatt-hours of electricity in any residential utility account, almost anywhere in the world. Electricity companies don�t accept them, but they do at www.kilowattcards.com and then send payments directly to the power companies at the rate they normally charge home customers for the same amount of electricity, including taxes and fees. These gift cards are supported by the non-profit Kilowatt-Hour Card Corporation (KHCC).

Kilowatt Cards are backed by goods, not promises. They are issued in exchange for assets (e.g. firewood, food stores) then held by a non-profit corporation, and later sold to pay for electricity as the cards are redeemed. They can be redeemed for electricity worldwide, resulting in a store-of-value (goods) and medium-of-exchange (electricity).

Because energy is needed to produce or to use all goods and services today �the ability to consume electricity� is a meaningful definition of wealth. While some people want gold and silver, everybody wants light, heat or transportation. Kilowatt Cards show that paper notes can be redeemed for something useful. But KHCC does not produce or deliver the electricity; they only pay for it with national currencies, supported by investments.

One purpose of Kilowatt Cards is to promote stable commerce and reduce the boom-bust financial cycle, by letting people save and lend their wealth in a form which cannot be diminished by currency inflation. If electricity cards stay redeemable at face value they cannot loose barter value as energy.

Traditional currencies have the attributes of being: (i) portable, (ii) difficult to counterfeit, (iii) limited in supply, (iv) non-perishable, and (v) easy to recognize. While electricity itself meets none of these criteria, electrical capacity meets criteria (ii) to (v), while paper cards representing payments for electricity supply attribute (i).

Kilowatt Cards are gift cards not currency, but since they will pay for anyone�s electricity, they are useful to barter for other things � and as a store of value, worth a fixed amount of energy, regardless of electricity prices.

They have fixed value because 10 kilowatt-hours is a physical constant � a standard amount of work (in the scientific sense) that one can evaluate intuitively: 10 kwh = 10,000 watt-hours, enough energy to run a 100-watt light bulb for 100 hours (exactly), and roughly enough to drive a Toyota Prius 25 miles. The typical price for 10 kilowatt-hours is about US$1 to $3.

For more information see www.kilowattcards.com.

How Trade Exchange Owners Can Earn Money On Their Members� Cash Purchases (Click here.)

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