Where does this Slashdot obsession with a cashless/e-gold/alternative currency come from?
Money has been around for 3200 years [pbs.org]. Trade "I'll give you 2 sheep for one cow" has been around for thousands more.
I remember hearing these "cashless society" arguments in 1980. I look in my wallet 23 years later, and I still have a wad of cash in there, along with a credit card and ATM card. Sure, much of my purchasing is electronic, but it's far from cashless.
Now people are again saying "We'll be a cashless society in 25 years", and I still don't believe them. I've heard it before.
It reminds me of the "computers will solve all your paperwork problems. We will be a paperless society in 25 years." Cash is not going away anytime soon just because some money-geeks think they found an alternative.
As Ivanova from Babylon 5 said: "Every time somebody says we're coming into a paperless society, I get 10 more forms to fill out."
You are incorrect in associating paper with wealth. There is no connection. That dollar bill in your wallet is no more or less money than a digit in a Wells Fargo computer. Both represent a unit of confidence in the issuing body - the US government. That is all they represent. You cannot redeem that dollar bill for a fraction of preciou metal. You cannot redeem the bill for a piece of a brick of a government building. You are not assured of receiving a set unit of a foreign currency for it either. It is a fiat currency. It has no inherent value. The paper bill is simply a physical container for a fractional unit of confidence in the US government, nothing more or less.
That dollar bill in your wallet is no more or less money than a digit in a Wells Fargo computer. Both represent a unit of confidence in the issuing body - the US government. That is all they represent. You cannot redeem that dollar bill for a fraction of preciou metal.
You know, I used to believe that too. More and more, however, I am coming to realize that there is a new truth. The dollar bill represents faith in something other than the US government, it represents faith in the world economy. I can take that single US dollar to another country and exchange it for other fiat currency, or for precious metal on the world exchange. If I want gold, I can get it, just not from the US Treasury as previous generations could.
You are correct, I may not receive a set unit of foreign currency for it. Foreign governments may or may not decide to honor my US dollar; however, if they don't, it's likely in this age of the 'global village' that their own economies will be adversely affected. The concept of economy has become larger than national borders, and as a result, paper fiat currency has more power now than it did before.
And arguments about "inherent value" are really silly. Value is something we humans ascribe to things. Nothing in nature has any value independent of that. But if we're going to start assigning values to things, than we in the US may as well use units of dollars, and my piece of paper may as well be worth 1 unit.
The ./ obsession with a cashless society? (Score:5, Insightful)
Money has been around for 3200 years [pbs.org]. Trade "I'll give you 2 sheep for one cow" has been around for thousands more.
I remember hearing these "cashless society" arguments in 1980. I look in my wallet 23 years later, and I still have a wad of cash in there, along with a credit card and ATM card. Sure, much of my purchasing is electronic, but it's far from cashless.
Now people are again saying "We'll be a cashless society in 25 years", and I still don't believe them. I've heard it before.
It reminds me of the "computers will solve all your paperwork problems. We will be a paperless society in 25 years." Cash is not going away anytime soon just because some money-geeks think they found an alternative.
As Ivanova from Babylon 5 said:
"Every time somebody says we're coming into a paperless society, I get 10 more forms to fill out."
What is money? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What is money? (Score:2)
You know, I used to believe that too. More and more, however, I am coming to realize that there is a new truth. The dollar bill represents faith in something other than the US government, it represents faith in the world economy. I can take that single US dollar to another country and exchange it for other fiat currency, or for precious metal on the world exchange. If I want gold, I can get it, just not from the US Treasury as previous generations could.
You are correct, I may not receive a set unit of foreign currency for it. Foreign governments may or may not decide to honor my US dollar; however, if they don't, it's likely in this age of the 'global village' that their own economies will be adversely affected. The concept of economy has become larger than national borders, and as a result, paper fiat currency has more power now than it did before.
And arguments about "inherent value" are really silly. Value is something we humans ascribe to things. Nothing in nature has any value independent of that. But if we're going to start assigning values to things, than we in the US may as well use units of dollars, and my piece of paper may as well be worth 1 unit.