Money as an Illusion

[Kay Thompson Fields]

Barter like the Magna Carta.. Once was the way in the U.S.of A....From the hinterlands,prairies,valleys,vast wastelands and looming peaks...Mountain men and their kin,farmers,shopkeepers,and just plain folk.. Traded their oxen yoke.. thusly avoiding a pig in a poke.. Bartering timber,crops,livestock,nuts,seeds and even liquor.. This monetary system was sure way Quicker!And didn't Tax said liquor.. Taxes like internal gases were not pleasing to most folks who thought they were mainly a Huge Hoax.. However; the Modern Era arrived and we all jumped on the Slide down the Rabbit Hole.. Drinking the Kool Aid with the Mad Hatter we realized this Tea Party had a complicated plot with a cast of characters headed for financial disaster...Suddenly no more plain talk and horse trading.. Nailed right down was our new economic plan.. The band in our land played hits such as Toll Tags, Property Taxes, License Fees and even the fabulous Permits to Cut Trees..There were even fines for catching too many fish! You could pay a pretty penny unless you were in cahoots with some petty bureaucrat holding out his hand.. Strike up the band.. Again!!!.. Day by day,dollar by dollar, we watched the white collar world decide... In frantic overdrive the economy heated, Featuring recessions, depressions,inflation, deflation, budget deficits, consumer price indexes,the stock market,IRA"s and some Passion Play titled Derivatives narrated by T.V. Pundits. The Fed waltzes with Talking Heads who resemble the Undead.. A shell game by another name is still just a bet,a roll of the dice like a gambler"s vice.. When and how and WHY did it get so complicated and veiled.. Barter was so straight forward.. Tit for Tat.. This for That..