Money
what do you think of it in reference to society as a whole?
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Most, if not all developed societies use money in some form or another to facilitate commerce. Imagine taking a bucket of milk from your cow to Walmart and trying to exchange it for a loaf of bread. Or perhaps try buying a car with a truckload of pineapples. Money simply represents value, and as such, is blameless for the problems it supposedly creates in society. Money is a good thing. 1
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It is however also very easy to say money is a bad thing due to the way it affects us. you are right, money is nothing more than a medium of exchange, but money has also become very real in that not having it can spell trouble for one's survival, obviously. having one's fate and value largely determined by money is hardly fair, particularly if it was given to you through a family. personally i see money as a representative of human life in the sense that it essentially determines the quality (in ways) and length of that life. also in the sense that one will spend very much of their life simply working to obtain money. looking at it this way it is despicable what people do with it. people striving to cheat each other, mercilessly taking away. obviously this analogy does not fit the whole picture, but it fits where it counts here. then again i suppose people would hoard and steal a truck load of pineapples as well, were it not inconvenient, even so, point stands. In NNSW in Australia a small community set up a bank where people who provided local services and products could claim its value in credits, then when they needed something or someone to help them they used their credits to pay for it. No money changed hands. An interesting social experiment that only worked as long as everyone participated and outside their community everyone continued to use money. Money is here to stay until we invent or need a global alternative. Stop thinking about money and think bartering. No money is exchanged. Credits have no monetary value. Credits cannot be traded for money. The number of credits are bartered for goods or services through agreement between the provider and receiver and all transactions are registered at the community "bank". No money is exchanged. Credits have no monetary value. Credits cannot be traded for money. Money has no intrinsic value as a commodity. Credits as well have no intrinsic value other than what is agreed to between the provider and receiver. The number of credits are bartered for goods or services through agreement between the provider and receiver and all transactions are registered at the community "bank" Barter is a system of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange. What you are mistakenly referring to as barter is in fact using a medium of value exchange other than commodities or services. This is effectively indistinguishable from a debit card transaction. It then follows that both money and these credits are the same. OK you still don't get it. The credits were simply a record of everybody's activities within the community at the "bank" not a medium of exchange. Yes, individuals could access their credits in exchange if they needed to but that was not the object of the process and they had to replace them at the bank. The object was community input for the community by the community and a means of measuring everyones input so it was equitable. As I said it only worked if everyone participated. Everybody provided goods or services for the community which was registered at the "Bank". Each individual was expected to achieve a number of credits over a given time each according to their ability as most were employed or self-employed. This was a collective process, no medium of exchange, just community input as a collective aim to benefit the community itself not individuals. They were bartering their time and effort to create a sustainable and harmonious environment to live in. 1
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