Word: barter
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Cattle for Milking. William the Conqueror welcomed the Jews to England. Trade then was mostly barter, and William felt that the money-handling Jews-would play a much-needed role in the economy of his new kingdom...
Actually, few realistic Britons look for any big, immediate boost in Red trade. Though China was once a big market, trade slumped last year to a bare $22.3 million worth of exports, and the Communists have offered little so far either in barter or cash. When a Red delegation arrived in London in 1954, all it had to trade was benzoated (preserved) egg yolks, leopard skins and human hair while demanding locomotives, steel and heavy vehicles. As for cash, Red China's sterling balance is only some $280 million, a figure which would be quickly liquidated by shipments...
Burma was learning the hard way about barter deals with the Communists. Caught with a huge rice surplus and unable to sell enough of it elsewhere (the U.S. is unloading a surplus of its own). Burma sent trade delegates to Iron Curtain countries to barter. They were eager amateurs who knew little about the fine points of trade, could not even speak Russian, and had to settle for whatever exchange goods they could get. Iron Curtain countries had plenty of cement to offer; cement, the delegates figured, would surely come in handy for Burma's projected construction program...
...gallery contract, a monthly payment of $50 to $150 for "first look" rights. Portrait commissions, once the artist's standby, have practically dried up; the art patron willing to finance a painter is as scarce in inflation-ridden France as a gold franc note. Many artists barter their works for art materials, do part-time drudge work painting lead soldiers, washing bottles, painting houses...
Into this situation Soviet Russia plunged boldly by offering to Avunduk to put Turkish business back on its feet by outright gifts and barter loans. The Soviet commercial attaché invited Avunduk and his friends to come to Russia to see for themselves what Russia could do. He also said that Russia was prepared to aid Turkey through private enterprise on a scale far bigger than aid hitherto given to India and Burma...