History Of Money

[SuburbanFarmer]

Just an interesting series of videos from one of my favorite content producers, about where money came from.

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[SuburbanFarmer]

Short version - money no longer has any value, but that's great because now we can fuck with it in any way we please but things will be great because.............reasons.

[jbird4049]

Short version - money no longer has any value, but that's great because now we can fuck with it in any way we please but things will be great because.............reasons.

That's something of an oversimplification. They pointed out that we used silly stuff like paper as if it has intrinsic use, like real food, or clothes, which is strange, if you step back and look at it.

It is a good series though.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Short version - money no longer has any value, but that's great because now we can fuck with it in any way we please but things will be great because.............reasons.

That's something of an oversimplification. They pointed out that we used silly stuff like paper as if it has intrinsic use, like real food, or clothes, which is strange, if you step back and look at it.

It is a good series though.

Well, up until 1971, that paper did have a defined value in gold. Now, it's just "whatever it's worth". A completely faith-based system.

[jbird4049]

Short version - money no longer has any value, but that's great because now we can fuck with it in any way we please but things will be great because.............reasons.

That's something of an oversimplification. They pointed out that we used silly stuff like paper as if it has intrinsic use, like real food, or clothes, which is strange, if you step back and look at it.

It is a good series though.

Well, up until 1971, that paper did have a defined value in gold. Now, it's just "whatever it's worth". A completely faith-based system.

Gold has value because it's shiny, and pretty, metal. So there's that, but one still can't eat it.

[SuburbanFarmer]

That's something of an oversimplification. They pointed out that we used silly stuff like paper as if it has intrinsic use, like real food, or clothes, which is strange, if you step back and look at it.

It is a good series though.

Well, up until 1971, that paper did have a defined value in gold. Now, it's just "whatever it's worth". A completely faith-based system.

Gold has value because it's shiny, and pretty, metal. So there's that, but one still can't eat it.

It's also one of the ultimate durable goods, along with other precious metals. Even paper money will rot away within a decade or two.

[jbird4049]

Well, up until 1971, that paper did have a defined value in gold. Now, it's just "whatever it's worth". A completely faith-based system.

Gold has value because it's shiny, and pretty, metal. So there's that, but one still can't eat it.

It's also one of the ultimate durable goods, along with other precious metals. Even paper money will rot away within a decade or two.

There isn't any really specialness to gold aside from it's easy testing by a touchstone, which has allowed Western civilization to get gold delirium. We've been conditioned to think gold=special. Everything from copper to cowrie shells to cows have been used as money.

[Ex-California]

Gold has value because it's shiny, and pretty, metal. So there's that, but one still can't eat it.

It's also one of the ultimate durable goods, along with other precious metals. Even paper money will rot away within a decade or two.

There isn't any really specialness to gold aside from it's easy testing by a touchstone, which has allowed Western civilization to get gold delirium. We've been conditioned to think gold=special. Everything from copper to cowrie shells to cows have been used as money.

Daniele Bolelli has a great quote from the Lakota about their thoughts of gold. It meant nothing to them

[SuburbanFarmer]

It's also one of the ultimate durable goods, along with other precious metals. Even paper money will rot away within a decade or two.

There isn't any really specialness to gold aside from it's easy testing by a touchstone, which has allowed Western civilization to get gold delirium. We've been conditioned to think gold=special. Everything from copper to cowrie shells to cows have been used as money.

Daniele Bolelli has a great quote from the Lakota about their thoughts of gold. It meant nothing to them

Right, but unlike cowry shells, gold is rather difficult to get more of, and has a finite supply on the earth. As you saw in the first video, it could be anything, but what's important is simply that we agree that the medium has an inherent value.

The problem with paper money holding its own value, is that the government can simply spin up any amount it likes - which it does regularly now. That effectively means infinite wealth for the government, and a tool to devalue your currency at any time.

The value of your goods and labor can be bargained at the time of sale. But if you hold it in currency, you can (and do) lose that value at their whim. Holding currency therefore, is inherently dangerous, and puts you under their control.

The optimal solution then, would be to buy durable goods with it as quickly as possible, and only use currency for the transactions. Not to hold it in a bank account.

[SilverEagle]

Gold has value because it's shiny, and pretty, metal. So there's that, but one still can't eat it.

It's also one of the ultimate durable goods, along with other precious metals. Even paper money will rot away within a decade or two.

There isn't any really specialness to gold aside from it's easy testing by a touchstone, which has allowed Western civilization to get gold delirium. We've been conditioned to think gold=special. Everything from copper to cowrie shells to cows have been used as money.

Okay, first off all money, any agreed upon form, is necessary for an economy to function efficiently. Money is basically the transfer of labor in numerical units. A barter economy is nowhere near efficient enough. Basically if you are a dairy farmer in a barter economy your "money" is dairy products. Now in a barter economy you can't do direct business with a person that is allergic to dairy products but you need that person's furniture that they produce. This is where money comes in handy and makes a much more dynamic economy. Today we have social agreement on paper money with really nice chucky cheese coins to transfer value for goods. The biggest problem is that our money is not backed by anything but debt and nothing of value that is finite and this can allow inflation to run amuck (aka increasing the supply by printing more plus the velocity of money) while wages stay depressed. Like GCF said our bills use to be backed by gold. Also our quarters, dimes, and half dollars were 90% silver until 1965. Gold has historically held value because it's indestructible, rare and it will not rust or fall apart. It can't be turned into anything else and nothing can be turned into gold. Therefore it was the perfect medium for humans to use as a transfer of value. Silver also falls into the same category. BTW the worlds silver to gold ratio is 16/1 and right now the price ratio is 69 to 1. This has been out of wack for years.