how is money worth anything?!?

Question

i mean come on its just paper!!

Answer 1

it's not

Answer 2

United States currency is backed by gold and silver in mints across the country. The value of paper currency is set by the United States Treasury Department.

The reason paper money is the desired currency is that people would rather carry a $100 bill than an ounce of gold.

So in essence, paper money is worthless, but it is accepted as a form of payment because it is circulating in place of the gold and silver in the vaults.

For example, a check with $100 written on it holds the value of a $100 bill to simply the payee. All currency and checks, etc. are used for accomodating functions. If there was no currency and there were no checks, a consumer would have to send a piece of gold in the mail to pay for a shipment. That doesn't sound very safe does it. A postal worker could simply open that mail and take out the piece of gold and there is no way to track it, However, currency and checks are traceable.

I could name many other accomodating functions, but hopefully by now you can see why we use a piece of COTTON (money isn't printed on paper) instead of the precious metal that really holds the value.

Answer 3

When money was invented each unit of currency represented a fix value, usually a certain amount of gold or food.

Today there is no such correlation between money and actual value. Money has only the value we think it has. And since practically everybode accepts paper money as valuable, it is.... But ofcource this could change. Let's say there is a rumor stating that the economic system has collapsed, it would collaps. The only thing that is holding economy up is our belif in it. There is no fundamental value.

Answer 4

I assume that youre living in america, please forvive me if otherwise. In the US, money is not backed by gold or by any precious metals. it is backed partly by work and partly how much people belive it is worth. If it were backed by precious metals, the rate at which bills are printed would lead to massive inflation.

money isnt actually worth anything, but since we all agree on a general system of exchange using it, money can be made to represent a variety of different resources. Also, money has the unique ability to collect interest if an internet home mortgage scam is sprung on the right sucker. Theres some more explanation on a MSN spaces article by macgeoghagen.

Answer 5

To the Goldbugs. We went off the gold standard during Nixon. Now the money is based on the economic numbers(in other words Air) The money is backed by the federal reserve and congress controls the amount of currency printed.

Answer 6

From the article "Why does money have value?"

"Money doesn't have any inherent value. It is simply pieces of paper or numbers in a ledger. A car has value because it can help you get where you need to go. Water has a value because it has a use; if you don’t drink enough of it you will die. Unless you enjoy looking at pictures of deceased national heroes, money has no more use than any other piece of paper."

Article continues at site listed below.

Answer 7

Technically, each dollar bill is traded for gold the government owns. Since it became difficult for people to carry large amounts of gold easily, the government printed bills, like receipts, for them. Now there is more money out than represented than gold, but the government has assets to cover a great deal of the paper money out in circulation.

Answer 8

In the US our currency, legal tender, green backs, etc is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America. Sorry guys & gals the US currency is not backed by, valued on or related too the amount of gold, silver, platinum of any other mineral. We went off the gold standard in 1933. In the old days the currency would have listed on it.....Silver Certificate or Gold Certificate and was valued by those commadites. Look at the currency in your pocket....it say Federal Reserve Note.

Answer 9

The value of US Currency is based on the faith of the strength of the United States. You are correct, money just paper ( actually it's closer to fabric) Your body is mostly just water, calicium and a few assorted minerals worth about $50 to a chemist.... What is your bdy worth to you?

Answer 10

Money has its own value. It is no longer backed by gold as it was at one time. Get some and you will know what it's worth when you go to spen it. In this country at this time, it's worth almost nothing. When a few greedy people try to get it all, it gets that way. When you have a President that helps a few greedy people get it all, it gets that way.

Answer 11

Money represented how much gold we had in the treasuery. Eventually money took on its own value and no longer represents gold.