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Economy Title: Battered by Economic Crisis, Greeks Turn to Barter Networks VOLOS, Greece — The first time he bought eggs, milk and jam at an outdoor market using not euros but an informal barter currency, Theodoros Mavridis, an unemployed electrician, was thrilled. The barter network in Volos has grown to 400 members. “I felt liberated, I felt free for the first time,” Mr. Mavridis said in a recent interview at a cafe in this port city in central Greece. “I instinctively reached into my pocket, but there was no need to.” Mr. Mavridis is a co-founder of a growing network here in Volos that uses a so-called Local Alternative Unit, or TEM in Greek, to exchange goods and services — language classes, baby-sitting, computer support, home-cooked meals — and to receive discounts at some local businesses. Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, the Volos network has grown exponentially in the past year, from 50 to 400 members. It is one of several such groups cropping up around the country, as Greeks squeezed by large wage cuts, tax increases and growing fears about whether they will continue to use the euro have looked for creative ways to cope with a radically changing economic landscape. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 64. #1. To: Not Badeye, A K A Stone, Fred Mertz, Godwinson, go65, war, no gnu taxes, Skip Intro, ferret mike, jwpegler, mininggold, brian s, mcgowanjm (#0) After years of rampant consumerism and easy credit, such nascent initiatives speak to the new mood in Greece, where imposed austerity has caused people to come together — not only to protest en masse, but also to help one another. Oooo - people helping each other - socialist.
#3. To: lucysmom (#1) Oooo - people helping each other - socialist. That isn't socialism. I think it is great that they found a way around the euro. Socialism doesn't help people. It hurts them.
#5. To: A K A Stone (#3) Socialism doesn't help people. It hurts them. So then if single payer health insurance saves lives, it's not Socialism.
#7. To: lucysmom (#5) So then if single payer health insurance saves lives, it's not Socialism. Where do you get these goofy ideas at? Taking from someone against their will to give it to someone else is socialism. Helping people through your free will and good heart is just good behavior.
#8. To: A K A Stone (#7) Taking from someone against their will to give it to someone else is socialism. What is being "taken"? Everyone would have the same access to health care.
#10. To: war (#8) I take care of myself you take care of yourself. What is wrong with that? If you want to help someone then you help them. If I want to help someone then I'll help them. This is a violation of our natural rights as human beings. This isn't star trek.
#12. To: A K A Stone (#10) This is a violation of our natural rights as human beings. Isn't "Life" a natural right? HOW is denying a HEALTHY LIFE inviolate to that right?
#13. To: war (#12) How is taxing half of peoples income when you add them all up not a violation of your free will?
#14. To: A K A Stone (#13) You've made a free decision to be a member of this society. Taxes are what we pay to maintain that order. You DON'T have to be a member of this society. You have the freedom to leave.
#17. To: war (#14) You've made a free decision to be a member of this society. No one makes a free decision to be a member of this society unless you immigrated here. The rest of us were born her. And we have rights. One is to not have to join government healthcare collective.
#27. To: A K A Stone (#17) (Edited) No one makes a free decision to be a member of this society unless you immigrated here. The rest of us were born her. And we have rights. One is to not have to join government healthcare collective. Everyone,. no matter where they are born has the same rights. That's what "natural rights" mean. It's a matter of whether or not the will of the of the governed is strong enough to demand that their government recognize these rights by limiting the government's power to encroach or abridge those rights. And I believe - strongly - that the right to a HEALTHY life, one optimized and maximized to the full abilities of health science, IS a natural right.
#36. To: war (#27) And I believe - strongly - that the right to a HEALTHY life, one optimized and maximized to the full abilities of health science, IS a natural right. So you have a right to force someone to operate on you or give you medical treatment? That means they don't have a right to not work on your health care.
#38. To: A K A Stone (#36) So you have a right to force someone to operate on you or give you medical treatment? That means they don't have a right to not work on your health care. So you think it's currently legal for one to abandon one's patients?
#55. To: mininggold (#38) So you think it's currently legal for one to abandon one's patients? How do you get that out of what I said? Are you nutso?
#64. To: A K A Stone (#55) Are you nutso? The question answers itself.
Replies to Comment # 64. There are no replies to Comment # 64.
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