June 29, 2009 - Tina Ames owns the Craftsmen Cafe, a Clarence, New York eatery that specializes in organic comfort fare such as chicken soup and apple pie. Recently she needed to replace her restaurant's roof, a $7,000 job. Ames was loath to part with that much cash and didn't want to take out a loan.

Her solution? She cut a deal with a local contractor who handled the roofing job in exchange for a Ford F-150 pickup that Ames no longer needed. "I grew up on a farm," she says. "If you had eggs and someone else had corn, you traded. It's an old way of doing things, and it makes a lot of sense.

by Claire Wolfe

The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it.

Politicians are making a hash of this country - and much of the rest of the civilized world. We know it. They know it. They know we know it. But we don't feel we can do anything much to
stop them.

That right there is the pre-condition for civil unrest - when people are frustrated and politicians are nervous.