More and more people want to be paid for their goods and services in cash instead of by checks or credit cards.  Why?  Obviously, to avoid onerous taxes.  Cash can’t easily be traced.

Now the push is on to make cash obsolete, so that all transactions become traceable.  Government loves the idea, natch.  So do all those companies that sell your most sensitive and personal data.  If you think private, untraceable electronic currencies will provide a workaround, forget it.  The government can ban such currencies with the stroke of a pen.

But people are inventive.  Look for a modest rise in barter -- goods and services given in exchange for other goods and services.

Or maybe not so modest.  It isn’t convenient for an entire economy to run on barter, or even mostly on barter, because barter is so inefficient.  But if the government can’t shake its addiction to multi-trillion-dollar expenditures, we may come pretty close.  That’s what happens in countries with hyperinflation, where every day money plunges in value.

Someday you may receive your salary in potatoes.  And be glad to have them.