Cameron Silver, who owns Decades (the Hollywood vintage boutique where Cameron Diaz and Rose McGowan get their retro-glamour gowns for movie premieres), has a few thoughts on the matter. Money, Silver concerns, is our undoing. Barter, he explains, is definitely better: "It's clean and immediate, unaffected by the credit and debt issues of the money system. It builds trust; it builds family; it's the way, ideally, society should work." He pauses mid-lesson.

"Say," he asks brightly, "you don't know of a cleaning lady who does barter?"