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What is the meaning of money? Forget for a moment that it is a needed element within the monetary system and everyone must have it in order to live balanced lives in the society of today... in order to question its existence. Redefine the question and inquire two things: What is money, and what determines its value?

Currently within the countries of the world, particularly the United States, the money used today is imaginary. Money as it is right now consists of bits of different common metals and paper with fancy ink. Money's value by itself alone is nothing... if it weren't for the banks, treasury, and government's word that it has any meaning, then it would be less valuable than the insulation in your walls. However, this meaningless currency wasn't always the standard.

In ages past, at the root of the budding monetary systems was a global standard of value. This standard was the trade of anything of rarity for goods and services. Jewels, gems, precious metals, ivory, and animal furs to name a few items were all things that held value. Why was this established? Well... like the raccoon or packrat that covets anything shiny, humans bear little difference. Anything that entices the hoarding mentality quickly becomes an object of value, and in common ancient society the metals gold and silver quickly became the base of all trade. Gold in particular was the stand-alone piece due to its wide spread availability the world over.

Of course, the knowledge of gold and its worth is nothing secret, where even a child whose games and cartoons express the value of worth. What RPG or monster killing quest doesn't reward the hero with gold? Gold is the base of value the world over, and with good reason. Unlike the moneys of today, gold was very versatile in trade because of its density and weight. Value was determined in the weight and luster, so if change wasn't available what did it matter? One can't cut a dollar in half and use the half for 50 cents, but one could cut or divide gold and the pieces would still hold equivalent value and worth. Unfortunately, having bits and pieces of gold and gold coins did little to promote regularity in trade of the precious metal, thus leading to the creation of standardized units of money expressed in coins and bills backed by an equal value in gold.

Now this is where the money of yesterday differs from the money of today. Up until 1971 all money was backed by its worth in gold that was held in the treasury. This backing could be seen on all bills until that date, where each bill carried the same phrase: "backed by gold". After 1971 this all changed with the populations and the fact that gold in storage no longer adequately covered the amount of bills and coins in circulation. It was at this point that money "with meaning" lost its reality and became an imaginary currency.

So what does it mean to live by this "imaginary currency"? Nothing too different from the previous system, only that the real value is no longer supported by something physical, so uncertainties in the true value of money is subject to the balance on the international scale. Whether or not an answer to the "What is money" question has been found, the meaning is certainly clear. As the substitute to the real value, it is the necessary device by which people live.

Learn more about this author, Morgan Carlson.
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