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Merged A Thread for AlexPontik to Explain his Ideas

AlexPontik

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What is the purpose of money?/What money does, who is good at making it, and who is a

Hi all,

I have the following argument regarding the purpose of money, does it seem correct to you, or am I wrong in my reasoning?
All feedback welcome, but please, keep it classy.:D

What is the purpose of money?
  1. Trade with money or barter with products: You can trade/barter some chickens for a haircut or you can trade some money for a haircut.
  2. Why not barter products for products: Chickens are uncomfortable to carry compared with money.
  3. Definition:Money reduces the time and effort needed to trade.
Reasoning:
  1. Common sense: It is common sense for humans to try to reduce the time and effort spend on activities they do, so that they make their lives easier.
  2. What is trade: Trade is defined as the interchange of products between people.
  3. Problems with bartering: Trading products for products requires a certain amount of time and effort spend. How much time and effort depends on the specific products used in the occasion, and it makes the problem even worse, as it is difficult for humans to plan their actions.
    • Trading chickens for a haircut is easier than trading a venomous snake for a haircut (unless the barber has pretty weird taste...).
  4. Money as a medium: In order to reduce the amount of time and effort spend in trading, a new product is introduced, which on its own doesn't hold any value, apart from the value that people agree it has. This product we call money and it comes in more than one form (physical money, plastic money etc. )
 
Sure. Money is merely a tool to make trade easier.

A hammer is a tool to make hammering nails easier.

A saw is a tool to make cutting wood easier.

A knife is a tool to make cutting things easier.

And one can misuse all of them to kill people too if one is so motivated.

Don't blame the tool.
 
Trebuchet said:
OP has started three threads in three posts and not returned to any of them.
A trebuchet is a tool to make throwing pumpkins easier. So?
Click to expand...

He/she’s also done the same on a number of boards in the last two weeks, including in Greek:

https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=896000

https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/124463-whos-fault-is-it-in-the-end/

http://www.greekmeds.gr/forum/topic/44094-μήπως-να-τελειώνουμε-με-τους-θλιμμένους-κλόουν/

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=88844682&highlight=

https://www.debatepolitics.com/conspiracy-theories/400212-just-fun-society.html?

Good luck with your essay, mate. Hope the libraries open up again soon.
 
When explaining anything about the nature of money, it's hard to improve on the wise words of the O'Jays:

Money money money money, money
Money money money money, money
Money money money money, money
Money money money money, money
Money money money money, money
Money money money money, money
 
AlexPontik said:
Hi all,

I have the following argument regarding the purpose of money, does it seem correct to you, or am I wrong in my reasoning?
All feedback welcome, but please, keep it classy.:D

What is the purpose of money?
  1. Trade with money or barter with products: You can trade/barter some chickens for a haircut or you can trade some money for a haircut.
  2. Why not barter products for products: Chickens are uncomfortable to carry compared with money.
  3. Definition:Money reduces the time and effort needed to trade.
Reasoning:
  1. Common sense: It is common sense for humans to try to reduce the time and effort spend on activities they do, so that they make their lives easier.
  2. What is trade: Trade is defined as the interchange of products between people.
  3. Problems with bartering: Trading products for products requires a certain amount of time and effort spend. How much time and effort depends on the specific products used in the occasion, and it makes the problem even worse, as it is difficult for humans to plan their actions.
    • Trading chickens for a haircut is easier than trading a venomous snake for a haircut (unless the barber has pretty weird taste...).
  4. Money as a medium: In order to reduce the amount of time and effort spend in trading, a new product is introduced, which on its own doesn't hold any value, apart from the value that people agree it has. This product we call money and it comes in more than one form (physical money, plastic money etc. )
Click to expand...
It's alright as long as you don't conclude that money evolved to replace barter. It more likely evolved as a response to leaders trying to measure each individual's contribution (and needs) to the community.

The usual characteristics of money are usually defined as:
  • A unit of accounting.
  • A medium of exchange.
  • A measure of value.
  • A store of value.
Finally, don't forget that most money is not "physical money, plastic money etc". Most of it exists only in bank ledgers (invariably stored digitally). The balance in your bank account is the only form that most money takes.
 
I think it's sort of reasonable, but misses (or expresses poorly) the fundamental difference between money and barter.

Money is a fungible medium of trade whereby people can exchange things of value without regard to what those things actually are. If I have chickens and need a hammer, I do not need to hunt around for a hammer seller who needs chickens.
 
AlexPontik said:
Hi all,

I have the following argument regarding the purpose of money, does it seem correct to you, or am I wrong in my reasoning?
All feedback welcome, but please, keep it classy.:D

What is the purpose of money?
  1. Trade with money or barter with products: You can trade/barter some chickens for a haircut or you can trade some money for a haircut.
  2. Why not barter products for products: Chickens are uncomfortable to carry compared with money.
  3. Definition:Money reduces the time and effort needed to trade.
Reasoning:
  1. Common sense: It is common sense for humans to try to reduce the time and effort spend on activities they do, so that they make their lives easier.
  2. What is trade: Trade is defined as the interchange of products between people.
  3. Problems with bartering: Trading products for products requires a certain amount of time and effort spend. How much time and effort depends on the specific products used in the occasion, and it makes the problem even worse, as it is difficult for humans to plan their actions.
    • Trading chickens for a haircut is easier than trading a venomous snake for a haircut (unless the barber has pretty weird taste...).
  4. Money as a medium: In order to reduce the amount of time and effort spend in trading, a new product is introduced, which on its own doesn't hold any value, apart from the value that people agree it has. This product we call money and it comes in more than one form (physical money, plastic money etc. )
Click to expand...

Your reasons all seem very fine and logical to me. You could add a few more though.

Money allows people to specialize and only produce one kind of product or service (or in some cases a few different related products and/or services). This allows greater production efficiency as the person who does only one thing will become very good at that one thing they do. Farmers can be full time farmers and even specialize in only one crop or species of livestock, for example. Meanwhile, in a modern economy, only a very small fraction of people are needed to produce enough surplus food to feed everyone, and everyone else can specialize in other things besides food production.
 
Last edited:
Random said:
Pfft. Sports cars to display your wealth? Really? I travel through the city in a gold palanquin exclusively carried by Harvard graduates.
Click to expand...

That diamond-encrusted carriage which overtook you was mine, drawn by six horses from my herd, painstakingly genetically engineered at immense expense for uncanny intelligence. After graduating from the Sorbonne and completing their various PhDs at Cambridge and Oxford, they've been squandered dragging my hyper-rich ass around, just so I could be faster and more wasteful then you.
 
When I'm king of the forums, such behavior will result in the threads being sent to AAH, and the account being suspended until the member contacts the mod team to be reinstated. Permaban on second offense, no questions asked, just as if it were promoting crime or threatening legal action.
 
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