Currencies are not the only system that can exist. It is short-sighted to think money is the only system that can work.

Money is the commodity that allows you to purchase goods and services. Money can also be used to develop weapons to kill people.

The only reason? Please... I have money and I think it is bad.

The point about competition is worth mentioning. Some people jump quickly to the conclusion that money is good because it creates competition and the assumption is that companies strive against each other to build the best product in view to monopolizing the market. Far from the truth. Bill Gates knew that in the world of money marketing is more important than product quality and he made his fortune that way. Competition pales in comparison to collaboration. Consider two companies developing the ‘same’ product. Neither product ends up quite the same, some things are better with one whilst other things are better with the other. If the customer wants the best of both of those products he must buy both, but that often remains impractical if not expensive. If the companies had collaborated rather than competed they could have shared their knowledge and came up with a superior product. Instead they will guard their ‘intellectual property’ in the name of profit. Another flaw with the monetary system.

Saying that without money, an economy would merely be primitive is extremely short sighted.

It is assuming that it is not possible to come up with a better system.

Referring to communism or barter is not an argument for saying that money is good.

It is simply lacking the imagination to realise that a new and better system to money can be devised and implemented.

This statement ignores the fact that it is possible to devise and implement a system that performs better than money.

Money is both bad and good, but it is more but bad than good. The monetary system comes with a wide range of problems and undesirable effects, some devastating. Money is the number one candidate for being replaced by an entirely new system than can perform better. Devising a new system that can replace money is a complex task but it is achievable. Adopting a new system that is better for everyone is desirable. It is part of evolution and progress.

Money is portable, divisible and can be stored easily. This is its practical aspects. However, it is those very attributes which are its demise.

A quick look at the intrinsic flaws of its attributes:

As a medium of exchange: When the flow of money is insufficient or stops, e.g. people become poor or companies go broke, transactions also stop regardless whether there is genuine demand for these transactions.

Any monetary based medium of exchange intrinsically suffers from this flaw because the total supply of money becomes the limit regardless of real resources.

As a unit of accounting: Everything is distilled down to the bottom line figure of the balance sheet and decisions are based solely on the profit factor. Financial profit is favoured over common sense.

As a store of value: Gigantic sums can be accumulated and for those who operate either a legal or an illegal business, the addiction of accumulating money easily become the driving force over integrity. Everything must be evaluated, to give it a price so that is can be sold or purchased (transacted) using the monetary unit of accounting. However, the price of something is purely artificial and clumsily reflects the real value of that thing. The value of each and every thing in the world is complex and multifaceted. Distilling such complexity into a single simplistic number is at best an awkward approximation. Money fails to reflect the real value of things which leads to corruption and instability.

A good system would promote the following (all which money fails to deliver):

• Supply of goods and services are commensurate to the demand of the entire population

• All living persons have sufficient access to the necessities of life such as food, shelter, transport, health care, education and entertainment

• There is fairness in luxury rewards

• Meaningful statistical data is available to regulate and optimise the work week vs overall quality of life

• All living persons are given the best conditions to be productive and have a meaningful position in society

• Environmental care is a focus

• Encourages production methods that are the most efficient and produce the least amount of pollution

• Encourages the production of quality items that last

• Advances in clean technology is unimpaired by profit making

• Advances in medicine is unimpaired by profit making

• Sustainability is a by-product of the above

The following argument by Hu008 is misleading: "and personally I think it is better than a lot of other options" - But Hu008 refers only to barter(singular) as the other options(plural). To say that money is good simply because it is more practical than barter is an insufficient claim. There are a lot of problems with the monetary system: It encourages greed, It divides the rich and the poor, It encourages war for profit, It encourages drug pushing for profit, It encourages prostitution for survival, It distorts the real value of things, It contributes to unemployment when budget is lacking even though there is plenty of work to be done, It causes oil companies to suppress clean energy so that they can maintain monopoly, It facilitates bribing and judges will acquit murderers and politician will pass legislations that are beneficial to elite groups even to the detriment of the many, It is unstable and can cause a financial crash like in 2008 resulting in millions of people losing their job and/or ownership of their home. The list goes on and on... In conclusion, Money has its undeniable practicalities; however, it also comes with a wide range of problems and undesirable effects, some devastating. These negative traits make Money a candidate for being replaced by a completely new system which possesses more positive traits than money.