No. of Recommendations: 7
Well....actually. What happens 48 hours later? The bananas have turned to poo, but the exporter still has $2B of USian banana republic script. As long as anyone else can be convinced the USian banana republic script is worth something, the exporter can buy durable goods with it. The poo is still poo.
Yes, this is something that's universal to non-durable goods. You buy food from the grocery store, within 48 hours the food has turned to poo and the grocery store still has your money. That doesn't mean you didn't get anything of value - you got to eat the food! We need non-durable goods to live as well as durable ones!
The reason we spend $2 billion (or whatever) to buy bananas is that we value the bananas at a little more than the $2 billion. We'd rather have the bananas than the dollars. That's why we do the exchange. If you prohibit the exchange (or voluntarily forgo it), you end up a bit worse off - not better off. It's an exchange of money for goods, not a loss of capital.