The Purpose of Money

NewGrowth

NewGrowth

Well-Known Member
I wanted to see what people thought the purpose of money is.

I asked a friend and she said: "Money is for rich people"

So what do you think money is for? What would you do without money?
 
G

ghosthorse

Active Member
If I didn't have money i would live in my teepee and eat berries and ground sqirrels except it took money to buy my teepee.
 
wackymack

wackymack

Well-Known Member
There is no real purpose to money,it doesn't buy you happiness but its' essential to live. Money is the root of all evil. Money is the base of all greed. People let themselves be owned by money,it should be the other way around. Money can not buy happiness for happiness comes from the little things in life that puts a smile upon your face. Money is the downfall of all man. People need to learn to not really worry about how much they do have or don't have,it's about the small things in life that can not be marketed and valued. The only thing that is valuable and you can't put a price tag on is your life.

I have no money and I'm the king of the world. Be happy with what you do have and don't focus on the greed.
 
TheBrutalTruth

TheBrutalTruth

Well-Known Member
NewGrowth said:
I wanted to see what people thought the purpose of money is.

I asked a friend and she said: "Money is for rich people"

So what do you think money is for? What would you do without money?
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Money serves as a medium of exchange, because trying to divide a goat to purchase a chicken, which is obviously worth less than a whole goat would have been inefficient. Who wants to carry around a carcass.

Money varies in its physical aspects, it has been anything from large round stones, to clam shells. However, it has, up until the creation of the Federal Reserve, been a commodity. Something that has value outside of itself that is recognized by everyone.

Gold, Silver, and Copper are traditional currencies. Gold is suitably rare, while Silver is not as rare, and copper is relatively common, thus the typical old style tiered system where Gold is more valuable than silver is more valuable than copper. However, there was common agreement by just about everyone that those three metals had some value and that is what made them a commodity.

They were then used as measures of the value of other products. So much Gold, Silver or Copper to purchase something, be it a chicken, cow, or goat, or so much of something to purchase a unit of Gold, Silver or Copper. In the United States that unit of Gold was called a dollar and was set at 1/20th of an oz. of Gold.

It was not until the creation of the Federal Reserve, and an imbecile named FDR that the United States separated its money from Gold, a move that has lead to a great amount of suffering, poverty and misery in this nation.

Though I suppose I should stop offering the text book answers and give you my personal answer.

It offers liquidity in assets so that assets can easily be transformed from one type to another. For instance, labor into food, gas, shelter, water, heating, air-conditioning, etc.
 
NewGrowth

NewGrowth

Well-Known Member
It offers liquidity in assets so that assets can easily be transformed from one type to another. For instance, labor into food, gas, shelter, water, heating, air-conditioning, etc.
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Thanks brutal thats interesting, I wanted to ask some kids what they think money is for (ages 4-10yrs). Do you think our society is built around money or vice versa? To me it seems like an imposed factor, a method of control. Wether the money is gold, silver, or just paper it has no inherent value just assumed value. For example if you are cold would you rather have a down jacket or $100?

That is why I liked that statement: "Money is for rich people" its simple but true. The poor really have little need for money. A starving african would much rather have food than a couple American dollars.

I like this guy
[youtube]pCkm20Z-pT8[/youtube]
 
stalebiscuit

stalebiscuit

Well-Known Member
money represents worth, the ability to trade a piece of paper on the belief that you will be repaid with goods and services

or at least it use to be that simple, with the fiat system in place, its not about how much cash you can get, but your credit, and with the government continually bailing people, i mean dead beats, out of debt, well its not going to mean shit later either
 
TheBrutalTruth

TheBrutalTruth

Well-Known Member
NewGrowth said:
Thanks brutal thats interesting, I wanted to ask some kids what they think money is for (ages 4-10yrs). Do you think our society is built around money or vice versa? To me it seems like an imposed factor, a method of control. Wether the money is gold, silver, or just paper it has no inherent value just assumed value. For example if you are cold would you rather have a down jacket or $100?

That is why I liked that statement: "Money is for rich people" its simple but true. The poor really have little need for money. A starving african would much rather have food than a couple American dollars.

I like this guy
[youtube]pCkm20Z-pT8[/youtube]
Click to expand...
I'd rather have the $100, Jackets can be bought for $30, thus I'd realize $70 dollars that I could use on other things.

Sorry, had to give a smart ass comment to your response.

As far as the statement that "Money is for rich people," I have to disagree, very rarely will you see rich people amassing "money" in its paper form. They typically transfer it into assets, stocks, bonds, gold, silver, etc.

But there are no limits in the ability to do that.

Unfortunately after nearly a century under a fiat money system over-seen by incompetent managers in our government, and in the Federal Reserve we have seen the real value of wages go down just as the real value of our money (relative to constants such as gold, of which there is a more or less fixed supply.) go down.

Of course, any blame rests on, maybe not our shoulders, but on the shoulders of the public who bought into all the BS "Free" Lunch promises of the politicians who repeatedly said that we could have our Cake and Eat it, too.
 
TheBrutalTruth

TheBrutalTruth

Well-Known Member
stalebiscuit said:
money represents worth, the ability to trade a piece of paper on the belief that you will be repaid with goods and services

or at least it use to be that simple, with the fiat system in place, its not about how much cash you can get, but your credit, and with the government continually bailing people, i mean dead beats, out of debt, well its not going to mean shit later either
Click to expand...
You mean credit means a damn thing?

If credit truly meant anything the US would probably have a CF Credit rating instead of a AAA.

Of course, the reason why the US has a AAA is because it has around 200 million former, current, and future slaves that it is able to force to labor for it.

Remember, when you talk to a Politician they would like to be addressed in the following fashion, "Master."

And if you have a problem they ask that you use the following Statement, "Thank you master, may I please have another?"

Under now circumstances should one assume that they are Public Servants, because they have long ago made a mockery of the chains that were placed upon them by the founding fathers.
 
TeaTreeOil

TeaTreeOil

Well-Known Member
Money represents debt. This has always been a use of money, to satisfy any given debt.

Now, with central banks, money is literally created from debt. And the purpose of the system is to support the collection of wealth by those who use it to create further debt(eg. fractional reserve banking, credit, etc.)

It's much like playing musical chairs, the debt(add interest) takes away chair by chair. Someone's always left to burden the debt -chairless. This means poverty, foreclosures, and bankruptcies are guarantees under our(USA) form of government.
 
I

ilkhan

Well-Known Member
I agree with TBT here. Money itself is not the root of all evil, the love of money is the root of evil. Money is just a thing like a gold coin is just a thing it represents value. I can buy a pizza with worthless green paper as I like to call it. But will that pizza make me happy??? Maybe.
 
TheBrutalTruth

TheBrutalTruth

Well-Known Member
TeaTreeOil said:
Money represents debt. This has always been a use of money, to satisfy any given debt.

Now, with central banks, money is literally created from debt. And the purpose of the system is to support the collection of wealth by those who use it to create further debt(eg. fractional reserve banking, credit, etc.)

It's much like playing musical chairs, the debt(add interest) takes away chair by chair. Someone's always left to burden the debt -chairless. This means poverty, foreclosures, and bankruptcies are guarantees under our(USA) form of government.
Click to expand...
Actually, Gold, Silver and Copper backed money would not represent debt. It is only our current fiat currency that represents debt. To find truly debt free money in the United States one has to go back to before Lincoln (and his Greenbacks, which were effectively Government IOUs.) and look at the Gold/Silver standard that this country was initially founded on.

There is a reason why many economists support a money supply based on Gold and Silver, and that's because it allows for a truly free market that is not subject to the dangers of financial malfeasance by the government or the Federal Reserve.

It is also much harder for a bank to pyramid gold up to the moon by using the Fractional Reserve Banking System. All it takes for a bank to fail, (as they should be allowed to, and would be allowed to under a truly free market system), is a rumor that they do not have sufficient Gold reserves to honor all of the outstanding Bank Notes.

Commodity backed money keeps the Bankers Honest by making it harder for them to be dishonest.

Debt can be pyramided up to the moon, and beyond, commodities can not. There is a fixed amount of them, and a bank that fails to remember this faces suddenly finding themselves with out deposits, and any way of paying their bills.

The biggest problem with the current financial crisis is the fact that instead of doing nothing to help mismanaged financial institutions the government is giving them money.

It's the First Bank of the United States all over again. Where the government gave the banksters (Hamilton & Co.) money with the understanding that Hamilton & Company would each contribute money to the bank to purchase shares. Instead, because banksters are inherently dishonest, Hamilton and Company lent themselves the money using the government's contribution to purchase more shares in the company, and thus pyramided loans on top of deposits to allow each partner to purchase additional shares in the First Bank of the United States.

Perhaps an addendum to the First Amendment should have been:

"The Federal Government shall make no laws or policies interfering in the markets."
 
stalebiscuit

stalebiscuit

Well-Known Member
TheBrutalTruth said:
You mean credit means a damn thing?

If credit truly meant anything the US would probably have a CF Credit rating instead of a AAA.

Of course, the reason why the US has a AAA is because it has around 200 million former, current, and future slaves that it is able to force to labor for it.

Remember, when you talk to a Politician they would like to be addressed in the following fashion, "Master."

And if you have a problem they ask that you use the following Statement, "Thank you master, may I please have another?"

Under now circumstances should one assume that they are Public Servants, because they have long ago made a mockery of the chains that were placed upon them by the founding fathers.
Click to expand...
wtf are you talking about?

slavery? what?
 
TeaTreeOil

TeaTreeOil

Well-Known Member
I was talking about the current state of money in the majority of the world's markets.

Things change. Not always for the better.
 
NewGrowth

NewGrowth

Well-Known Member
You talk about a commodity back currency Brutal, very libertarian.

IMO Gold and Silver also have speculative values. I understand the benefits of such a system however. All these things have assumed value however and this seems to prop up the machine if greed and a shifting of values away from what is really of value.

Eventually we will be forced into more sustainable lifestyles or we face shifting climates, loss of arable land, and enormous energy costs. As this shift occurs what will be the value of money? If I have no heat and can't pay for heat give me some firewood you can keep your green paper and shiny metal.:peace:
 
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