What is Money?

This is a big topic.

In this, the first of the Money series, we look at:

• the history of money and its impact on civilisation
• the different meanings we give to money in our individual value systems

History of Money:

"At the dawn of humanity, bartering was used in lieu of money to buy goods. Coins then evolved into bank notes around 1661 AD. The first credit card was introduced in 1946." (i)

Money is changing...

Fewer people carry cash (banknotes or coins). Currency is just one form of money. Payment 'in kind' is still legal tender. Now we also have contactless payments, PayPal and more.

"The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment. Any item or verifiable record that fulfils these functions can be considered as money." (ii)

Who are "The Wealthy"?

Us! Doesn't it usually seem like the wealthy are "other people", the very rich, millionaires or billionaires...? And yet...

"If you earn more than R 15,000 per month, then you are in the top 3 percent of South Africans" (iii)

Questions to Ponder:

1. Money increases choice. What quality of life can we have without safe transport, money to pay medical costs, and so on?
2. It's said that "love of money is the root of all evil". But could poverty be a cause of evil? Does desperation make it easier or harder to make ethical choices?
3. "The best things in life are free". How true is that really?
4. "It costs more to be poor". What are your experiences of this, its corollary (it costs less to be rich), and the related proverb "He who has will be given more"?
5. "Finance is a time machine, a technology that allows us to move value forward and backward through time; and (that) this innovation has changed the very way we think about and plan for the future." (Goodreads on the book 'Money Changes Everything').

Different Perspectives on Money:

1. Karl Marx:
   "Under private property ... Each tries to establish over the other an alien power, so as thereby to find satisfaction of his own selfish need. The increase in the quantity of objects is therefore accompanied by an extension of the realm of the alien powers to which man is subjected, and every new product represents a new potentiality of mutual swindling and mutual plundering." (iv)

• from 'Requirements and Division of Labour', by philosopher & economist Karl Marx (1844)

2. Ayn Rand:
   "Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think…Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them.
   Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value"

• from the novel, 'Atlas Shrugged', by philosopher Ayn Rand (1957)

To read the full passage:
https://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2002/08/franciscos-money-speech/

3. Please bring your own ideas/quotes, to enliven the discussion.

Further Reading:

Have a quick glance at the Goodreads descriptions of these books for further ideas.

1. 'Theology of Money' - Philip Goodchild (2006)
2. 'Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek' - Manu Saadia (2016)
3. 'Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilisation Possible' - William Goetzmann (2016)
4. 'How Much is Enough? Money and the Good Life' - Robert Skidelsky (2012)
5. 'Money and the Meaning of Life' - Jacob Needleman (1992)

References:

(i) The Telegraph:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/money/11174013/The-history-of-money-from-barter-to-bitcoin.html
(ii) Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money
(iii) 'Power of Perspective: Here's How your Salary Compares to the Rest of SA' - Aug 2019:
https://www.goodthingsguy.com/opinion/perspective-salary-south-africa/
(iv) Marx Quotes:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/quotes/index.htm

Join us in open, respectful discussion, conviviality and a bite to eat/drink (for your own account).

Time: 18h45 arrival & place menu orders; discussion will start at 19h00.