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Underground Economy
Scenario:
	"The Regime" has instituted a cashless economy and has begun processing 
	citizens for receipt of the "Regime Card." They have announced a future 
	program called "Archangel" which will see all citizens chipped - as soon as 
	they can obtain adequate supplies. There are hundred - even thousands - of 
	Citizens (note the difference?) who have pledged to refuse both the card 
	and the chip. Your mission is to set up an underground economy to help 
	sustain the resistors.
Shortages to be Expected Under "The Regime"
Reported shortages in the Soviet Union:
An article in the Winter 1982/1983 issue of Foreign Affairs says: "The poor morale which is so destructive of 
productivity in Soviet factories and farms is pervasive throughout Soviet society. It is a long time since Party 
slogans and exhortations have been able to inspire or move the working people in the Soviet Union. Continuing 
shortages of essential consumer goods, endless queues and resentment against the special privileges and 
access reserved for Party insiders – to cushy jobs, special shops amply stocked with imported goodies, preferred 
housing, automobiles, and university and career opportunities for their children – have long since created a 
disillusioned, sullen, apathetic populace."
	•    A March 25, 1985, article in U.S. News & World Report, datelined Moscow, notes that 
	     most Soviets are tired of, among other things, "shortages of food and consumer goods."
	•    A piece in the Sept. 23, 1981, New York Times by Marshall I. Goldman, associate 
	     director of Harvard's Russian Research Center, speaks of three serious Soviet crop 
	     failures in a row as "a disaster of unprecedented magnitude" causing numerous 
	     complaints about "food supplies." Goldman notes that before the communists took over 
	     in 1917, "Russia was the largest grain exporter in the world."
	•    A New York Times article dated Nov. 11, 1980, reported food lines in Moscow getting 
	     longer, with the grain crop failure of 1979 causing "shortages of meat and dairy 
	     products" worse than usual. When one person in a food line wonders if the sausage 
	     this time will be ground bones and mashed toilet paper, another individual replies: 
	     "No, candle wax – toilet paper is in short supply."
	•    An Oct. 22, 1980, report in the Washington Post tells of "reported work stoppages at 
	     major Soviet auto plants over poor food supplies."
	•    A July 11, 1980, BBC news summary says there's a light bulb shortage in the Soviet 
	     Union.
	•    A July 7, 1980, story in Newsweek magazine tells of a "chronically short supply" of milk, 
	     butter, cheese and meat in the Siberian city of Tyumen. In the city of Arkhangelsk, 
	     "diplomatic sources say milk is sometimes sold only by doctor's prescription to nursing 
	     mothers." In Moscow, "cabbage, which is usually available, disappeared from the market 
	     for most of the spring and, for the first time in memory, shops are running out of milk."
	•    A piece in the Jan. 5, 1980, issue of The Economist says: "Endemic shortages of 
	     consumer goods, poor quality and limited choice are nothing new in the Soviet Union."
In fact, in the Soviet Union under communism there was even a shortage of human life. A May 20, 1985, article in 
the Los Angeles Times told of the usual: "the enduring shortage of goods and services." Also, there was "a severe
shortage of nurses" and "shortages of medical supplies and equipment ranging from antibiotics and 
high-technology devices to antiseptics and ordinary thermometers." 
Response:
I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to check out the "Recommended Reading" in our group 
Files.  Several of the books deal with this very issue!  I have found a bunch of them available on Amazon and I'm 
sure your local library has some, if not all, of them.  
I have been making seed purchases and also buying supplies of soil amendments.  If you don't have a green 
thumb, there is no time like the present to start learning how to develop one.  You may need it in the future, if not 
now.  And for Pete's sake, people, learn how to garden organically if you don't already know how! 
I don't trust the regime to make sure our food supply is pure and safe.  That goes for the water, too! 
Regards to  all!
Reply:
	Excellent advice. And, though you may need it all for yourself, spicy items (onions, 
	peppers, herbs) will be EXCELLENT barter items once people get to survival living 
	and the blander stewpots. 
	On the note of bartering - I'm sure y'all know that it's never wise to barter away 
	ANYTHING that can be turned around and used against you. (bullets, 
	unadulterated booze, sharp or pointy items...) 
Response:
Well...let's see... if my assignment is to help set up an underground economy, I would think the basic unit should be 
an hour or a day.  In other words: if the item being bartered/offered is food, it would be offered in units of what amount 
of that food would keep an adult alive & functioning for a day. 
So: meat, 3 ounces for men, 4 for nursing or pregnant women (that's a pure guess; I am not a dietician). Labor: an hour, 
a half day, or a day. So; in exchange for 6 ounces of  meat, one could expect a couple to work at least half a day for 
you. But if it's hauling wood in the cold, you better provide more food -- like, rice & beans also -- as compared to a labor 
exchange of food for 8 hours of watching a gill net for activity.  market sets the price, as usual. one band-aid still in its 
sterile wrapper will bring you more in exchange in some situations than in others.
Reply:
	Thanks, Kris. Interesting idea. I'm sure that something like this will develop. People place different degrees of
	value upon different goods, depending upon the local situation, but there will always be some sort of "base"
	unit that all others are judged against. One thing that will never change is the inability to place a single unit of
	value upon any person's ability or the worth of their ability. One person may labor for 8 hours at the same 
	task another requires only 1 hour to complete. That is the problem with socialism and communism - they 
	devalue excellence and overvalue the mediocre. I think something a bit more substantial will have to be used
	as a base unit - and then a person's ability (or rather, the PRODUCT of their ability) would be measured 
	against that unit. 

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