Assignment 13-Eliot Smith

     As I write this, on November 17th, 2013, at 8:18 P.M., the United States debt counter displays the number 17,191,864,223,478.66.  The number of dollars we owe to a myriad of countries surpasses the highest number known by the common child.  The men and women we employ to run the "greatest country on Earth" are fighting with each other much in the way that three-year-old toddlers squabble over their mother's iPad.  No one has come up with a way to fix any of this.  We, officially, are screwed.
     It is because of this that something radical, something able to turn this hell train around, needs to be done. I think most Americans will agree with me when I say that the current American monetary system is unnecessarily intricate; a much simpler one would favor the country, and its people, much better.  This widespread belief calls for a reversion to the easy, old-fashioned barter system.
      This idea would completely dissolve the need to repay the national debt because, logically, if we don't utilize paper currency, how will we be expected to repay the Chinese?  The proposed system would also resolve the current complex monetary organization, due to the useful simplicity of the barter system.  With the system in place, a man wouldn't have to go through some futile process of transferring funds and bank accounts to make a purchase at the local Best Buy, he could just trade a few chickens and a goat for the 3D television that he's always wanted, just like the old days.  And if the Best Buy employee later discovers that he's been sold a sick goat, he can easily track down the original buyer, kill him, and take his belongings.  I believe this system would produce a win-win situation for all, based on the aforementioned example, and would completely restore this country's economy to full health.