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Value is arbitrary. None of the major world fiat currencies have any inherent value. They are backed by nothing. Reminds me of an episode of This American Life
by dolphenstein 15y ago
Value is arbitrary. None of the major world fiat currencies have any inherent value. They are backed by nothing.
Reminds me of an episode of This American Life. Brazil's currency was down the toilet, so they invented a new currency and tricked the populace into thinking it had value.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/the-invention-of-money http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/t...
- Jem 15y agoOn a similar vein, I recommend Terry Pratchett's 'Making Money'.
- nhaehnle 15y agoThe price level is more or less arbitrary, but the value of fiat money is not just a shared hallucination. It ultimately comes from taxes. MMTers say that Taxes Drive Money: http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/07/mmp-blog-8-taxes-drive-money.html http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/07/mmp-blog... Some anthropologists say that this is how money got started in the first place around the palaces in ancient Egypt. In more modern history, there are stark examples of how "taxes drive money" really does work to monetize an economy; search for "Hut taxes".
- pessimizer 15y agoEven non-MMTers. If you are from the US, you have to pay your taxes in US dollars, and judgments in court against you are payable in USD.
- recoiledsnake 15y ago>Value is arbitrary. None of the major world fiat currencies have any inherent value. They are backed by nothing. They are backed by a government which knows that once it doesn't honor the value, the economy (and probably the govt too) is finished.
- dolphenstein 15y agoYes, and if they go down the toilet, you are going down with them. You aren't going to recover your losses once a more competent administration takes over.