Sorry rev, I often find your opinions insightful, but going back to the barter system? Are you insane? The reason we invented "money" in the first place was to save on the long chains of bartering that often emerge as a result.
For instance, if I have "3 bushels of corn" as you put it, and want to get a haircut, I have to either (a) find a hairdresser willing to exchange a haircut for my 3 bushels of corn, or (b) have to exchange my corn for something that a hairdresser wants. This "exchanging" might not be that simple; I might find a hairdresser who wants a loaf of bread, but the baker doesn't want my corn, and instead wants a bunch of flowers...etc, etc, etc.
The whole purpose of money was to save time; to assign each item a specific value in monetary terms, and use money as a method of bartering instead. Seriously, you don't need to get rid of money to have socialism, and getting rid of money won't stop capitalism either. Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production; creation of goods / services for profit. Charging someone more than a product is worth works with or without money.
For instance, if I have "3 bushels of corn" as you put it, and want to get a haircut, I have to either (a) find a hairdresser willing to exchange a haircut for my 3 bushels of corn, or (b) have to exchange my corn for something that a hairdresser wants. This "exchanging" might not be that simple; I might find a hairdresser who wants a loaf of bread, but the baker doesn't want my corn, and instead wants a bunch of flowers...etc, etc, etc.
The whole purpose of money was to save time; to assign each item a specific value in monetary terms, and use money as a method of bartering instead. Seriously, you don't need to get rid of money to have socialism, and getting rid of money won't stop capitalism either. Capitalism is the private ownership of the means of production; creation of goods / services for profit. Charging someone more than a product is worth works with or without money.
