We could take over the world with No 8 and duct tape... At the end of the day it will all depend on the balance sheet. We will still be living in a financial world. If our exports (inc tourism and working population) are less than our imports then there will be money left over for personal imports.
If the whole world went moneyless then I think the last thing we're going to be worrying about is a new TV... and that doesn't mean that TV's won't be made, similar to other useful technology like phones, perhaps we'll all have tablets instead of PC's, or personal computers that we hang around out necks (the tech is there), dunno, but iterating through technology as we do in terms quantity, frequency and lack or reuseability really isn't helping matters in terms of global resource wasteage. I don't see us going back to the 19th century at all, nowhere near it, but we need to start managing things better imho. Bikes will still be made, hell they may even become the predominant mode of transport.
In terms of NZ "blazing the trail", we will need A bank to manage the finances of the country and that bank will have to deal with the rest of the world using money, it'll be the internal economy that won't need it. If the world goes to shit and fuel stop flowing then it won't matter if we have money or not as there will be no fuel and we'll have to revert to the 19th century living. I believe that living without money before that happens would give NZ a head start in regards to not noticing the pain as much as the financial countries. In terms of the sky not falling, it'll give us some form of insulation during times of recession, shit will still get built as local resources won't be subject to inflation, deflation, market ups and downs (exports the exception) etc... similar to natural disaster, if there's no money required for a rebuild as our resources are free, we won;t need to wait for insurance companies to sell assets etc... before they pay out, noone will need insurance either.
As you say 100 cows for an MRI etc... isn't going to work where those who sell MRI's require money in return. We will need to generate money in some form or other... until the rest of the world decides that living without money gives us a decent start point at having a crack at the big issues of the day. I don't see borders closing because there's no money, quite the opposite (that'll scare SMOKEU) and with any luck those who make MRI's will continue to do so and will make them for the world, where NZ will produce shit loads of milk and lamb and Brazil will export high quality cheap tomatoes etc... and not for money or barter, but because they can and because other country's need those things. We will do it because it needs to be done, not because there's a $ in it, which will hopefully allow us to take our foot off the gas a bit without sacrificing quality of life.
Money makes the world go around? Yet if there's no money and people just do what they're currently doing, stuff will still be made and things will get better a damn site quicker than they are for everyone and we may actually have a shot at "peace" and global cooperation for a change. I have a dream I guess

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