January 10, 2011

I love when this happens

This American Life has a great article ALL ABOUT MONEY.
What is money?
Why do we think it's real? Etc, etc, etc.

Listen to this episode here: WHAT IS MONEY?

I scooped this story though. Back during the heart of the financial crisis, I too asked "How did 1 trillion dollars just vanish?"
And I discovered, that none of it was actually real. It was all debt that people were trading as though it were money. Not that money is real either. But there were no paper bills. there were just numbers. That's it.

The financial crisis is just a big stupid hallucination.

In the August of 2009 I made this video (forgive the rapping at the beginning):


But really, you should really listen to this article

6 comments:

  1. i'll see the video later at home (the conviniences of restricted internet)... i, too, gawk at the notions of money. especially the cats that think gold has any real value compared to fiat currency. i mean to say gold the mineral might have a measurable more of a use than the cotton rag that greenbacks are printed on but the idea of gold money v. paper money is laughable. real value is land, food, shelter, water, and the knowledge to use them without destroying them. it's a cop out to pulpit for a return to an agrarian society but we used to know how important food was when we couldn't drive to a climate controlled enviroment and buy from the freezer aisle. and on top of that that we as a world produce enough calories of food to feed everyone, everyone, and yet millions starve while millions are obese.

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  2. The most interesting thing about money is the mass delusion that’s required to support it. It just might be the greatest idea ever. When you look into your wallet or into your bank account, you’re really looking at the power of belief. And as scary as that is, it’s also pretty amazing. I wonder what else we could accomplish with our collective will power.

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  3. @J.

    I'm not so sure you want a return to an 'agrarian" society, they had quite a lot of problems as well, just different than the ones we face.

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  4. @ TiradeFaction

    there's no doubt you are correct. the benefits of technology and modernization is a long list, different eras get different problem sets. i was just thinking being closer to the production of goods would revitalize their importance. my step dad's family maintains a small ranch in SD and having killed and butured, sown and harvested, and gotten the chance to work hard for food is what it took for me to realize how important it is. watching an entire field go bad because of blight though is pretty devestating. like you said, different problems and different benefits.

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  5. All money is just suspended credit. Governments have the power to create it out of thin air because governments have the power to force businesses to accept their currency as legal tender. None of it actually exists.

    Which is why I always laugh when I see cashiers checking a $50 bill with a pen to make sure it's not counterfeit. They're ALL counterfeit.

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  6. "They're ALL counterfeit." Perfect.

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