Is money real?

[Dittohead not!]

Money used to be something you kept in your pocket, in your wallet, or purse. It was tangible, perhaps just made of paper, but something that you could hold in your hand and count. No more.

Now, money is immaterial, not in the "not important" or "not pertinent" meaning of the word, but in the literal meaning of not made of matter. Money is simply an abstract number, made up of patterns of electrons in a computer or on the internet, who knows where it even is?

My credit union says I have so much money in my savings and checking accounts, but where is it really? Is there somewhere a vault or a safe with gold bullion or even paper dollars in it in the amount they say I can spend? No, there is not. There really is nothing in the material world that represents that amount of money.

I can go online, bring up a bill, and if I know the proper username and password, pay that bill from the electronic money the credit union says that I have, but what really changes hands? Nothing, not a bill, not a coin, nothing.

and yet, the bill is paid, the debt is satisfied, and I can then bring out the credit card and swipe it once again for anything from a pack of gum to a Rolex if I so desire. Again, nothing has changed hands.

Maybe money has become spiritual. It certainly isn't material.

 

[ecofarm]

impdaddy:

 

[sawyerloggingon]

Money used to be something you kept in your pocket, in your wallet, or purse. It was tangible, perhaps just made of paper, but something that you could hold in your hand and count. No more.

Now, money is immaterial, not in the "not important" or "not pertinent" meaning of the word, but in the literal meaning of not made of matter. Money is simply an abstract number, made up of patterns of electrons in a computer or on the internet, who knows where it even is?

My credit union says I have so much money in my savings and checking accounts, but where is it really? Is there somewhere a vault or a safe with gold bullion or even paper dollars in it in the amount they say I can spend? No, there is not. There really is nothing in the material world that represents that amount of money.

I can go online, bring up a bill, and if I know the proper username and password, pay that bill from the electronic money the credit union says that I have, but what really changes hands? Nothing, not a bill, not a coin, nothing.

and yet, the bill is paid, the debt is satisfied, and I can then bring out the credit card and swipe it once again for anything from a pack of gum to a Rolex if I so desire. Again, nothing has changed hands.

Maybe money has become spiritual. It certainly isn't material.

Money has never been real, it is just accepted currency in any society. I have money in lots of places but I don't trust it really and that is why I stock up on gold, ammo, rice. and beans.

 

[greyhat]

Money is a store of value.

 

[AliHajiSheik]

Someone is nostalgic. Take your next paycheck in dollar bills, you will feel better.

 

[gavinfielder]

Money has never been real, it is just accepted currency in any society.

Well jesus, sawyerloggingon said something I would have. Better take a coat to hell with me.


Money is a theoretical concept, not a material good. Just because it can be applied to a material good doesn't necessarily mean it should be.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

Well jesus, sawyerloggingon said something I would have. Better take a coat to hell with me.


Money is a theoretical concept, not a material good. Just because it can be applied to a material good doesn't necessarily mean it should be.

I don't believe we've met. :lol:

 

[grip]

Money used to be something you kept in your pocket, in your wallet, or purse. It was tangible, perhaps just made of paper, but something that you could hold in your hand and count. No more.

Now, money is immaterial, not in the "not important" or "not pertinent" meaning of the word, but in the literal meaning of not made of matter. Money is simply an abstract number, made up of patterns of electrons in a computer or on the internet, who knows where it even is?

My credit union says I have so much money in my savings and checking accounts, but where is it really? Is there somewhere a vault or a safe with gold bullion or even paper dollars in it in the amount they say I can spend? No, there is not. There really is nothing in the material world that represents that amount of money.

I can go online, bring up a bill, and if I know the proper username and password, pay that bill from the electronic money the credit union says that I have, but what really changes hands? Nothing, not a bill, not a coin, nothing.

and yet, the bill is paid, the debt is satisfied, and I can then bring out the credit card and swipe it once again for anything from a pack of gum to a Rolex if I so desire. Again, nothing has changed hands.

Maybe money has become spiritual. It certainly isn't material.

Yeah, over time this has became more and more true. Cash as we know it or the asset value it represented is becoming a fictitious invention of banks, investors and nations. It's value is created or destroyed at will because the system of bartering it represented is becoming far too imbalanced to stay at the same functional levels much longer.

Though it'll continue to exist, until some sort of system of electronic credits replaces it. That will drastically affect tax evasion and criminal enterprises that deal in untraceable paper.

 

[imagep]

Money is a store of value.

I agree, and just to augment that a little...

Todays money is a temporary store of value (I say "temporary" since inflation is to be expected), it's also a means of accounting, and a facilitator of trade.

What money "is not", is wealth. Wealth is the value of good, services, plus whatever God/mother nature has provided for us, such as health, land, air, energy, etc.

Some countries have more inherent wealth than others due to their location and natural resources. Other countries have more man made wealth because the people are very productive. In the US we are fortunate enough to have lots of natural resource wealth plus lots of man made wealth.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Money has never been real, it is just accepted currency in any society. I have money in lots of places but I don't trust it really and that is why I stock up on gold, ammo, rice. and beans.

No gold buried in the yard?

 

[imagep]

No gold buried in the yard?

No, of course not, your being rediculous.

When "the **** hits the fan" (due to the upcoming race war during which time martial law will be declared, and the Chinese will invade to reclaim the money that they lent us, just after the evil Fed in cahoots with the Rothchild family and Dr. Evil, siezes all personal wealth, because of the zombie alien attack and all), it would take too long to dig it up and load it into the "bug out vehicle" before heading off to a secluded underground bunker in the mountains.

 

[Dittohead not!]

No, of course not, your being rediculous.

When "the **** hits the fan" (due to the upcoming race war during which time martial law will be declared, and the Chinese will invade to reclaim the money that they lent us, just after the evil Fed in cahoots with the Rothchild family and Dr. Evil, siezes all personal wealth, because of the zombie alien attack and all), it would take too long to dig it up and load it into the "bug out vehicle" before heading off to a secluded underground bunker in the mountains.

You're right.
Just grab the beans, rice, and ammo, and head out. Camping out in the mountains of Idaho in the middle of the winter might be fun, you never know.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

No gold buried in the yard?

It's an 80 acre yard, don't even think about it.:lol:

 

[imagep]

It's an 80 acre yard, don't even think about it.:lol:

It's always buried either under the old oak tree, or beside the old shed.

After one of my uncles passed away, I went on a real life hunt for buried gold. Years earlier he had told my mom that it was buried next to the packing shed. If it was, it must have been more than 10 feet deep, because even with a backhoe we never found it.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

You're right.
Just grab the beans, rice, and ammo, and head out. Camping out in the mountains of Idaho in the middle of the winter might be fun, you never know.

I will stay in my house with that stuff warm and cozy with firewood cut with chainsaws that I keep gas stocked up for. Real gas not the ethanol kind and treated with Sta Bil, I have thought of everything even toilet paper.

 

[Dittohead not!]

I will stay in my house with that stuff warm and cozy with firewood cut with chainsaws that I keep gas stocked up for. Real gas not the ethanol kind and treated with Sta Bil, I have thought of everything even toilet paper.

and your house is strong enough to withstand a rocket attack?

 

[head of joaquin]

Money is real; it really symbolizes value, backed by the reality of law, which is required in a modern advanced economy. If we had to use nonsymbolic currency, i.e., currency with inherent value approaching the symbolic value, we could hardly engage in any large transaction, the stock market wouldn't function, and there would hardly be any credit, meaning hardly any wealth creation. If our economy were based on gold, we'd have the GDP we had in 1880 and lots of starvation.

 

[DashingAmerican]

If I were to go to my bank and withdraw all of my money, I would indeed have material currency, thus, it is real.

 

[Dittohead not!]

If I were to go to my bank and withdraw all of my money, I would indeed have material currency, thus, it is real.

You could go to your bank and trade the patterns of electrons for paper. You could even trade it for gold, or for property, or anything else to which we've ascribed value.
But, you don't have any money in the bank. Your bank account may show that you have X dollars that can be withdrawn, but there is, in fact, no paper, gold, or anything else in that bank that is yours. It's all an abstract concept, not tangible.

 

[head of joaquin]

You could go to your bank and trade the patterns of electrons for paper. You could even trade it for gold, or for property, or anything else to which we've ascribed value.
But, you don't have any money in the bank. Your bank account may show that you have X dollars that can be withdrawn, but there is, in fact, no paper, gold, or anything else in that bank that is yours. It's all an abstract concept, not tangible.

And that's why it works so well and why we have such an advanced economy. If we had to limit currency to gold reserve, credit bottlenecks would emerge and economic growth would slow or reverse.