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136 comments on A World Without Money?
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136 comments on A World Without Money?
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You say "clearly", but it's far from clear.
Historically people have used all sorts of things as currency. They've used,
- cocoa
- cowrie shells
- wooden sticks with marks on them
- gold
- silver
- iron
- cigarettes
- salt
- clay tablets representing a declining amount of grain
- electronic impulses
and zillions of other things.
What I found interesting was that during the Soviet colapse people traded things on their value compared to a snickers bar and shops paid out change in chewing gum. One man who was there said he went to one particular shop most often because they always paid change in the flavour of chewing gum he liked best.
I remember clearly a story from that time about a Soviet Union factory that paid its workers in sanitary napkins.
I can just see people doing huge international transactions in cowrie shells or salt. Pah-lease. And as for "electronic impulses", they are what are causing the problem right now — fiat rubbish — so it's hardly the best option for the future.
I also don't imagine huge international transactions in gold or silver. We only have about 160,000 tonnes of gold in the world, total - 0.024kg or less than one ounce of gold for each of the 6.7 billion people on Earth. Or if we consider silver, about 43 billion ounces have been produced ever, about 6 ounces each. The medieval silver penny had a bit over a gram of silver, so that 6 ounces would allow some 170 pennies.
Would this really be enough currency for all the transactions people want to make?
My point was not that any particular way of having currency was the best, but that there were very many different ways of doing things throughout history - not just silver and gold.
Yes! Let's say 1 dollar = 1 yoctogram. Plenty for everyone.
In absence of money there won't be any international anything anyway.