There was a thread on money, barter and a medium of exchange here but I can't find it.

However having just heard Mr Bush's solution to the US economic situation (cut taxes to make people spend more) on the same BBC programme as the news that Zimbabwe is issuing a $10,000,000 note I just hope Mr Bush knows what he is doing. It cost $3,000,000 for a tube of toothpaste at the start of December (in Z), but now it's $60,000,000. And, interestingly I thought as we had discussed barter on this site, a person interviewed (who owned a supermarket) remarked that at this level of hyper- inflation barter is the only meaningful economic system- but he was looking forward to going to the bank for his weekly budget of $300,000,000 as with the new notes it may fit in his pocket and he won't have to take a paper bag along with him!! Life must be very hard indeed under such conditions.