4 ms·

You can't buy food with an IOU from your employer.

• knollimar 1y ago
  New startup idea?
• lmm 1y ago
  > You can't buy food with an IOU from your employer. Historically in times of war or civil disorder it's often been possible.
• nocoiner 1y ago
  Sometimes you can. A decade or so ago when California ran out of money, they issued warrants to their payees, and lots of banks accepted those at face value.
  • dragonwriter 1y ago
    Last time was July-August 2009 (and before that in 1992 and 1933.) But those registered warrants aren’t abstract expectations of future payment, but debt instruments with a fixed interest rate when issued.
• collinmcnulty 1y ago
  Practically speaking, you are correct, but interestingly all dollars are literally an IOU from the US government, so you do buy food with an IOU from their employer. Debt from or to a sovereign is the basis for all money.
• thephyber 1y ago
  In practice, most people in the US use credit (which means spending can go unpaid for about 25 days without any costs incurred) and most people bank with a national bank (so they are screwed if all federal employees stop paying back loans at the same time). That said, food banks are gonna see lots more foot traffic and federal employees might start looking for other work.