Small businesses bartering in tough times

The White House is taking steps to help small businesses secure loans, but while they wait, those businesses are finding creative ways to stay afloat. The White House recently launched a $21 million program this week to help banks make loans to small businesses. This comes more than a year after President Obama proposed to allocate $15 billion (with a ‘b’) from the federal bailout specifically for this purpose. Getting even this relatively small amount of money out the door proved a struggle for the White House, as the administration tries to pass more legislation to help small businesses.

Some small businesses are taking steps to help save themselves money including bartering with each other instead of exchanging money. James Taylor, CEO and president of Taylored Athletes in Boynton Beach, FL, started bartering 2 1/2 years ago, when he was having trouble securing a loan from the bank. But is trading goods and services the wisest move in a tough economy? Wall Street and financial reporter for The New York Times Louise Story thinks keeping track of accounting and taxes (yes, bartering is a taxable event) while bartering can be very difficult.