What is money?

Question

Go ahead and tell me what it actually IS, what it MEANS, what it is WORTH... And why is it valued like it is, and by who, and when, and where ... ???

Answer 1

Money is a symbol created to represent a unit of work, effort or material.

Humans have the ability to attribute value to symbols. Money is one of the most powerful examples of a symbol to which humans have assigned a value. As with all symbols, the symbol itself is worthless except for the value we assign to it.

Answer 2

Money is the illusion of trade.

During the Iron age, precious metals represented the value of the respective industrial applications that grew to flourish at the time. Metal ore was refined to be more transportable, and eventually metalsmiths created coinage in order to create an exchange with the local farming and craftworkers, creating a standard of trade that came to be recognised as a universal standard. A farmer, for instance, could accumulate coinage in exchange for livestock and food, and could eventually re-exchange his coinage for farming equipment from a metalsmith made from the metals, exchanging raw materials that the smith could use for what the smith already had. Coinage allowed the inventors and technologists of a community a way to have equal exchange for thier goods and services to those who provided the basics of food, clothing, shelter and furniture.

After the middle ages, the metalsmiths had figured out that they could mint and stockpile coinage as the desire for it increased, but its respective value remained stable. Smiths began to have vaults built as places for storage of their own and other people's coinage, which they rented out. Eventually, the vaults remained as storage, and as the printing press had made its impact (no pun intended) on European culture, paper certificates representing the value of the coinage became a more popular and more convenient manner of exchange. From the Metalsmiths trade evolved a need for apprenticeships of clerks who would exchange values in the vaults respective to the paper exchanges outside of the gold "bank". This was the beginnings of the banking "system". This process was refined into it's modern intracacies by a trade/warrior/pirate group known as the Knights Templar.

As we've strayed away from the metalsmith standard, and have become a post industrial society, placing materials such as oil, diamonds, and other durable materials into the standard of multi national trade, the intracacies of trade have become yet more layered. By the 17th Century, governments were also getting invovled with the banking systems in order to standardise taxation.

By the early 20th century, the Banking system created and finally established a 2 caste system of trade and money. Corporations could establish trade for goods and services from other corporations, and to individual working people, money represents credit, thus lowering the status of the proletarian to that of a serf, whose only standard of exchange is compensation for future work that they do. This was the standard that lead to the Great World Depression of the 1930's, as the value of work was decreased because the fractional reserve banking system of Europe and America had overextended it's credit, issuing and circulating too much money in ratio to the actual wealth it represented.

We are in a similar situation today, but the Banking systems and corporations have postponed a severe depression by tiering the cash flow systems, getting cheap labor from nations with a lower monetary value, and taxation.

This is a very basic overview, and doesn't even get into the role that real property plays.

Answer 3

Money is a green piece of paper that people use to buy material items. You can't use money to buy love or peace or hope, only material items. It is worth a lot to people who love material things, and it is worth nothing to people who only want love and peace and hope. Everyone does need it, to pay bills and buy food and stuff, but some people still want more for other stuff. It is valued like it is because with technology these days and people wanting to be "in" or "hot", they need money for all of that.

Answer 4

It is the root of all that's evil and started in government. It is valued not by the rich that have it but by the poor who don't ahve it. The rich use it as a popularity game and it sickens their brains into thinking that they are better than all. The rich people are the problem w/ money in thiis country. and I'm just glad that i have some to spare for the problems encountered in everyday life.

Answer 5

Money was introduced a very very very long time ago. Before money people used the bartering system and that failed because people got greedy, they didn't agree on the value of things etc. It is worth a lot because we need it. Money is valued because you need it to buy things and everyone needs it.

Answer 6

money is the trading tool used instead of goods .its worth is bass on the people perception of its worth .money is a wonderful horrible thing

Answer 7

Money it a piece of paper with a dead presidents picture on it. I don't think it goes any deeper than that.

Answer 8

The root of all happiness.

Religion is the root of all evil.

Answer 9

The root of all evil.

Answer 10

If you don't know anything about money then you don't need it.