The "credit crunch", as it has become known, would suggest that there's no money around, given that no one can get credit to supply it. Businesses, and people, have become heavily reliant on debt, and, because debt was so easy to acquire, have not learned to manage it well. Even the best of companies have failed to manage debt well.
But money, whilst it is the forestay of our economy, is not the only item that can be traded. Time, for instance, is frequently traded in our social lives.
In business, time can be traded too. Asset swapping and lending are other routes to balancing trade. It's also true of stock swapping - one man's muck is another man's gold.
I must remember, though, that a story like this must come with a risk warning: don't forget to pay the tax. What! I heard that! Tax is not payable on exchange of money - it's payable on exchange of value. So, even, if you trade time, you must pay the tax on it. Unfortunately, Inland Revenue, rightly or wrongly, only understands currency.
But I can picture a local shopkeeper talking to someone who's hard up (which is normal now), asking his customer what they have got to trade, if they have no cash. Well, the picture is possible, and you never know what opportunities might arise.
And with the government bickering about whether costs should be cut in two years time, instead of doing it now, the situation is likely to become infinitely worse, and alternative means of trade could become vital resources for everybody.
Many people often wonder why the world is all about cash, even if the answer is obvious, but it goes to show that the world doesn't have to be about cash. Trading co-operation, then, could become the currency for some people in relentless recessions. And businesses.