Fish & (e)Con(omy)

It's quite possible the world is moving back to the barter trade economy, what with inflation and prices of commodities and essentials escalating at an alarming rate. C had just gone to meet a client, and as all clients always do - tell their architects they love the concept, but will have to think about it, money being one of the major concerns. There's no such thing as a free blade of grass, really. So this one particular client implied pretty much the same thing, but oh by the way, "you like my (rare) arowana (fish)? Why don't you take one". And then promptly went on to offer 2 arowanas to C. Umm, so these days architects get paid in fish do they? In turn I wonder how he is going to divvy up the 'fish' parts to his contractors, suppliers, and....convince the bank to accept payment of fish in lieu of cash for the monthly mortgage. Hmm. Going by market rates, 1 arowana = few hundred to thousand dollars. So basically, pay the bank 1 fish, it's sufficient to cover the monthly housing loan. Umm, so how many ikan bilis needs to be traded at tekka market for 1kg of beef trimmings?? No ikan bilis? Will dried shrimp do? As with all economics, it's about demand and supply right? So moving back to an economy trading on fish, would generate a high demand of refrigerators to store fish, or for dehydrating equipment to preserve fish. How will productivity of a country be measured, in GFF (Gross Fishy Factor)? Will Starbucks start serving Nemo lattes???!

And as with all things, this also highlights the difference between C and myself. I'd research to the death and prepare data and facts, arming myself with concrete knowledge and making a grand presentation to my clients on "WHY YOU NEED TO GIVE ME 2 FISH". C, on the other hand, will talk about something else totally unrelated to the work or project and make fun out of everything, and the clients will just simply jump up and say, "HEY, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE 2 FISH?".