We Need Money

[Timelord]

Human society - wether it has reached a definition of "civilization" or not, already has a tried & tested system for this.

1) Barter/exchange
2) Precious metals to represent surplus wealth. Ideally silver as it is easily divisable into relevent amounts. It can be carried in the form of body jewellery and cut into small weighed amounts for trade - if appropriate, ie the receiving party is willing to accept a representation of wealth rather than actual physical resources.
3) Money has 2 forms :-
a) a coin made out of say silver or more uncommonly - gold. This coin is worth not really its face value, but only its physical weight in the precious metal. The reason the precious metal is in the form of a coin, is so a centralised authority can more easily regulate & tax surplus wealth in the community. the coins are issued from a central mint and the tax/bondage system is integral to it. You will see on ancient to medieval coins recovered from the earth, that many are clipped or cut into equal parts. usually these are silver coins. This was part of the system, especially when times were harder. Half or a quarter of a silver coin was woth exactly that by weight. A clipping was probably added to a few whole coins & was a fraction of a Traders generally carried a small set of travelling weighing scales and this system was fair & accurate 99.9% of the time.
b) a coin made out of a non precious metal that is worth its face value rather than its physical weight. This development comes about as a further advancement of the central issuing authority regulatory/tax system. Otherwise the coins are scrap value only and not much use for trade. These coins are the same in representation of wealth as bank notes or I.O.U's.

Money leads to credit, which leads to debt, which leads to servitude & strife. Sound familiar?

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(1 April 2012, 14:04)Timelord Wrote: Human society - wether it has reached a definition of "civilization" or not, already has a tried & tested system for this.

1) Barter/exchange
2) Precious metals to represent surplus wealth. Ideally silver as it is easily divisable into relevent amounts. It can be carried in the form of body jewellery and cut into small weighed amounts for trade - if appropriate, ie the receiving party is willing to accept a representation of wealth rather than actual physical resources.
3) Money has 2 forms :-
a) a coin made out of say silver or more uncommonly - gold. This coin is worth not really its face value, but only its physical weight in the precious metal. The reason the precious metal is in the form of a coin, is so a centralised authority can more easily regulate & tax surplus wealth in the community. the coins are issued from a central mint and the tax/bondage system is integral to it. You will see on ancient to medieval coins recovered from the earth, that many are clipped or cut into equal parts. usually these are silver coins. This was part of the system, especially when times were harder. Half or a quarter of a silver coin was worth exactly that by weight. A clipping was probably added to a few whole coins & was a fraction of a whole, measured by weight. Traders generally carried a small set of travelling weighing scales and this system was fair & accurate 99.9% of the time.
b) a coin made out of a non precious metal that is worth its face value rather than its physical weight. This development comes about as a further advancement of the central issuing authority regulatory/tax system. Otherwise the coins are scrap value only and not much use for trade. These coins are the same in representation of wealth as bank notes or I.O.U's.

Money leads to credit, which leads to debt, which leads to servitude & strife. Sound familiar?