I've been studying the nature and value of money for awhile now, and I've only begun to scratch the surface of what the stuff is. Here in the United States, and perhaps elsewhere, philosophical and economic discussions about money are hopelessly entangled with political philosophy, which makes it all the harder, but I think I have a grasp of what American currency is, and how it got there.
Barter was the first way humans exchanged things they had for things they wanted. It works well when two people each have something they other wants and they value it equally. Otherwise, the trades can become inordinately complex, such is the stuff that fiction writers love to illustrate, because wacky hijinks ensue.
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I'm no survivalist, and we'll be in as much peril as everyone else once the game of kicking the [fiat money] can is no longer poss -
"I don't care if its dirty, moldy, or soggy, just so its money," Bart Maverick from the 1960s TV series. Gold isn't money, gold
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Enjoyed this, Terence. Reminds me of my friends who invest in the stock market, when I try to point out that it's based on nothing -
Its worse than that. There are NO people in charge. However, you can own a portion of large business.
