Money, what is it?
There are always questions about what money is what it is not. Unfortunately much of the discussion about money puts it into some kind of fairy tale or mythical illusion. Green backs take on some kind of unicorn type feel to them. As though the dollar itself has some kind of power to it. Dollars are essentially just a value of something, they are a commodity that people work for. I exchange my labor and time for to earn dollars and then I can use that money to buy something else. But that wont entirely answer the question of money.
If I work for you for an hour mowing your lawn what should I be paid for that? I could do it for free. I could do it for 10 dollars. I could do it for a six pack? I could do it for a pizza…or maybe a car? There isn’t an established value on what my work it worth. So what does that have to do with money. All of the things listed that I can get paid for my labor is money. It is a commodity that is paid for what I did. If I really wanted to make it more complicated what would the value be of my labor if someone gave me a car for mowing a lawn?
We exchange pieces of papers for things that we want. But it is still a commodity no different then getting a chicken for an hour of work. But in the US you are required to get paid in dollars. But in Euros in Europe? I could work for other things too, some people wouldn’t mind getting paid in Bitcoins or a brand new car. Humans simplified the payment of services, so no more bartering. Instead we assign numerical values to services and products. This is what is known as money.
If you want to know more about money and what characteristics have been traditionally held for money you can learn more about it here: http://www.freeeconhelp.com/2012/03/what-are-properties-of-money.html
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