A little cartoon about the character of money (Vid [Archive]

kha zarr

05-02-2007, 06:24 AM

this is a very good video!! Thanks so much for posting it, really.

I only know a little german its been a while. The implication is that barter was fine until the idea of money was introduced. Need to research barter systems from long ago, how they worked, what their flaws / unfair parts were. Some exist today like 'hours' but I find flaws w/them too, since it is dependent on money in some way. Does barter need improvement? If so, what?? Am I just going too far out?? I figure why not explore this topic, since its going on here. I shall now jump in [by the way I 'failed' economics, and counter-intuitively [to conventional thinking anyway], I am proud of it]: In economics theres the idea of 'purchasing power parity' and 'utility' to mean ability / choice to acquire and value, respectively. When we exchange in a monetary system we earn money based on an arbitrary value of what a certain job is worth, and an arbitrarily assigned value on what a good or service, from the buying end, is worth in return. I call it arbitrary b/c value varies greatly from person to person, on a lot of things!

Anyway this [$] assignment of value is of a numbering system, where only a sufficient holding of #s, however gotten - can be used to exchange for an item, itself assigned that amount, also by #ing. Keep in mind the video doesnt talk [??] about the concept of 'overhead' in business, including education and industries, which of course are necessities to us all. Lets start a discussion there too if possible. Undoubtedly it really leads back to the equating of how many # of $s equal a certain thing to be included in this system. Just imagine how crazy things might get if non-material things started costing money! Oh wait now they do. Online dating and making friends!!? Air also....in a way anything deriving 'utility' can be charged something .... No, Im not an anarchist but Ive always thought about why this all is, its an even deeper question, b/c it addresses 'asynchronous trade' like credits and loans. What types of these existed in older barter systems? How were these conducted? Keep in mind the idea of 'sharing' doesnt necessarily require paying back of anything, just to complicate matters a bit. :rolleyes:

Is a system of exchange based on money, assuming you take out fractional reserve banking and systems of taxing and credit, more advanced than a system of barter? This is a crucial point I wish to discuss here, because I dont think so. I feel these unfortunate taxing and manipulation developments were an inevitable feature of it. Its all about centralization of power, to those who dont know how to maintain centrality, or power, and abuse the people while exerting this fleeting, but intoxicating, control. Where does this addiction to control on such a complete scale, come from? Another topic?