The Tuesday Barter Report – December 22, 2008

Ethical MarketsReforming Global Finance

There will be no Tuesday Report on December 30, 2008.
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From the desk of Bob Meyer…12/23/2008

IMSBarter Appears On CBS Evening News

IMSBarter (OTCBB:INLM) was featured on the CBS Evening News “Weekend Journal” Saturday, December 13. Don Mardak, CEO of IMS, was interviewed as were several members of IMSBarter.

The program can be viewed at http://www.imsbarter.com/.

Daughter Of TradeAmericanCard Owner Receives Raves From Whoopi Goldberg

Allison Ames, daughter of Mike Ames (founder of TAC) and Sondra Ames, is the founder of Newport Beach-based Wonderland Bakery. Her gingerbread cookie was chosen the best from across the U.S. by Whoopi Goldberg on “The View,” a morning TV talk-show aired nationally. Within 30 minutes of the airing Wonderland Bakery had processed 700 orders.

For more information see http://wonderlandbakery.com/

Barter Party Organized By Women

The Boston Herald reported that women are shopping from their closets! HUH? Clothes-swap parties of a dozen women are meeting in homes to trade their “better stuff” for other niceties desired. Some women even purchase designer clothes at thrift stores (at huge discounts), then trade those clothes for something more desirable at the party.

10% Of Retailers Could Face Restructuring

Colin McGranahan, a retail analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., says potentially 10% of retailers could face significant restructuring, bankruptcy or liquidation in 2009. The International Council of Shopping Centers projects 148,000 storefronts will be shuttered this year by retailers of all types, including mom-and-pop stores, based on data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That would be the largest since 2001 when 150,000 locations closed.

Countries Barter To Solve Challenges

Worldwide food shortages mixed with a global credit crisis has some countries getting by bartering food for other essentials. Thailand, for example, one of the world’s largest producers of rice, is trading that foodstuff to Iran for oil. Iran was having difficulty getting the necessary letters of credit so they and Thailand agreed on prices and volumes, before bartering the exchange of the goods.

Saudi Arabia was finding difficulty getting paid on a cash debt from Pakistan, so to get paid the Saudi’s are following the strategy, “If you can’t get blood out of the turnip, take the turnips!” And the Saudi’s are doing just that, as payment is forthcoming in the form of various foodstuffs.

Blixseth Willing To Trade Caribbean Island For Gulfstream Jet Or Manhattan Digs

A barter deal with the U.S. government, wherein he received 100,000 acres in the Bozeman/Big Sky area, gave Tim Blixseth his start. He subsequently built an elite Montana ski and golf community with his now-former wife. (Bill Gates and his family were members.)

Blixseth later sold his share of Yellowstone to his ex-wife. Now he is looking to trade his private five-acre Turks & Caicos island, with a 30,000-square-foot-home, for $75 million of other valuable assets. He said he’s open to bartering his island for a Gulfstream G550 jet or a New York apartment.

Swiss Bank Pays Top Management With Junk Bonds Rather Than Cash

Top management at Credit Suisse Group will be receiving a substantial percentage of their 2008 compensation in forms other than the traditional cash-and-stock payment. This year they will be receiving junk bonds, mortgage-backed securities and corporate loans in a “Partner Asset Facility”…and they won’t receive a return on the PAF program for eight years. The move was necessary because the Swiss bank posted a $4.6 billion loss this year.

All back issues of “From the Desk…” can be accessed by clicking here.

(Please feel free to forward our newsletter to your friends and colleagues. We have a “box” at the end of the newsletter for your convenience. See you next week. . .)

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Futurist Hazel Henderson On Redesigning Money Systems

(A Must Read For Everyone In The Commercial Barter Industry)

The financial crisis of 2008 presents the best opportunity in over a century to simultaneously reform money systems and create additional mediums of exchange and financing mechanisms, to accelerate the shift from the Industrial Era to the greener information-rich Solar Age.

The entire comments (as presented by Hazel Henderson, D.Sc. Hon., author, futurist, and president of Ethical Markets Media) can be accessed at: https://www.ethicalmarkets.com/?p=1119.

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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.

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Marketing & Communication Budgets In Major Decline

Total marketing budgets will decline by $56 billion between January 2008 and December 2010, reports the updated Jack Myers Advertising & Marketing Investment Forecast 2008-2010.

If current projections hold, advertising revenues will decline in this period for the first time since the 1930s, and total marketing communications budgets will decline for the first time since the Great Depression.

Marketing expenditures peaked in 2007 at $756 billion. By 2010, marketing budgets are forecasted to decline by about 7.5 percent. Total marketing budgets are declining in 2008, driven by a 2.4-percent drop-off in advertising investments. Myers projects total ad budgets will decline 6.7 percent in 2009, with total marketing communications spending declining 4.1 percent.

Myers also forecasts that advertising spending will not recover until 2011, possibly 2012. “I am therefore projecting a continuing slide in ad spending of 2.3 percent in 2010, with an even steeper 2.6-percent decline in total marketing budgets driven by a shift away from traditional direct marketing and trade promotion spending,” he writes in his report.

The projected fall in ad spending in 2009 is attributed to: newspapers – 15%, consumer magazines – 13%, radio – 12%, local TV – 10.5%, with a slight 2.7-percent growth in online spending.

What’s Happening In Today’s Marketplace…The Use Of Trade Exchanges & Corporate Barter Companies

Bartering A Panacea For More Companies In These Challenging Times

The Canwest News Service reported in a recent article that the global economic downturn is driving more companies to barter as cash becomes more precious. That’s especially true for companies that are affected by the lack of credit available in the financial markets. Barter provides a way to keep businesses operating without having to take on more debt.

From a tax stand-point barter transactions are treated the same as cash. In the U.S., trade exchanges (barter networks) are required to file forms (a 1099B is sent to every member) detailing the annual barter sales of members to the IRS.

No such rule (mandatory filing of forms to the Canadian Revenue Agency) exists in Canada. However, in 1988 the Canada Revenue Agency released a statement saying every dollar bartered is equal to one Canadian dollar, and should be accounted for and reported for tax purposes.

Direct Trade In Pensacola Was The Introduction To Barter

Direct trading with a friend or business associate is often the first introduction to barter. Such was the case for two women in Pensacola (FL) recently, when a Mary Kay Cosmetics representative found a local independent photographer who was willing to barter.

Each wanted what the other person had to offer, thus they agreed to trade an hour’s worth of photography services for a selection of Mary Kay products. It’s often difficult to find someone who will trade with you, and you both have a coincidence of wants. But when a satisfactory experience of that nature happens, then one is likely open to the idea of joining a commercial trade exchange…where the membership has a plethora of products and services they wish to barter.

Thanks to a shaky economy, bartering — both on a direct basis as well an through a trade exchange — is growing in popularity.

The Growth and Use of Secondary Capital (New Money) Creates Unprecedented Wealth In Today’s New Age Of Possibility

There are many forms of secondary capital—which can be defined as any financial instrument that measures and communicates value in a common language. Would you like to see and learn more about the many forms of secondary capital?

We have 70 free, informative and inspiring, articles for you in our “Secondary Capital Section.”

Check it out… www.barternews.com/secondary_capital.htm.