Money: A Myth

Articles In This Section:

· Money: A Myth

· WE BUY NOTHING BUT LABOR

· WHAT ABOUT OWNERSHIP? - part 1

· WHAT ABOUT OWNERSHIP? - part 2

· WHAT DO YOU WISH TO ACCOMPLISH? - part 1

· WHAT DO YOU WISH TO ACCOMPLISH? - part 2

· WHAT DO YOU WISH TO ACCOMPLISH? - part 3

THE WORD "money" is believed to be derived from Moneta, an epithet for the Roman goddess Juno, because the ancient Roman Mint was established in the Temple of Juno Moneta. Money is often described as the medium of exchange. If a man exchanges his labor for money, and exchanges the money for food, he is in effect exchanging his labor for food. The money intervenes as a means or medium, received only to be parted with; the end is the food.

The purpose of this chapter is to give you a true concept regarding the unreality of money. One will strive so hard for money, when in reality what he is really seeking is the end result—what money obtains: security, food, shelter, clothes, etc. We look at money as something real. We take a dollar bill and hold it in our hands and feel we have something substantial. In reality, as far as its stable value is concerned, a piece of money is as flexible as a rubber band.

To illustrate: suppose potatoes were sold at $1 per bushel. Your dollar would be worth $1 as far as a bushel of potatoes is concerned. All right. Imagine potatoes rising in price to $2 per bushel; your dollar would be only 50 cents compared to the price of potatoes. This applies to the purchase of everything. The worth of your dollar depends entirely upon the value which is placed on the commodity you buy.

As to money being a myth, let us consider this illustration: Suppose there were ten people in a room and no one had any money except one person, and he had only $1. We will call him Man #1. All right, Man #2 has a pocket knife he is willing to sell to Man #1 for $1, and this man buys it, giving his dollar to Man #2. Man #3 has a book which Man #2 wants, and he buys it, giving his dollar to Man #3. This goes on until finally Man #10 has the dollar, and even he does not keep it. He buys something from Man #1 for a dollar. In this room, $10's worth of cash transactions have taken place with only $1 in money.

This same principle holds good in commerce. In the United States many, many billions of dollars change hands each year, with only a fraction of the amount in real currency.

United States money is backed up by gold. For all the money printed or minted there is an equal value of gold stored in the government vaults. The value placed on gold is man made. It is not decreed by nature. At the time this is being written, the value of gold, I believe, is $35 per ounce, and $35 worth of currency can be minted for each ounce of gold in storage. Suppose, for example, the lawmakers in Washington wished to declare a value of $40 per ounce on our gold, then $5 more of currency could be coined for each ounce of gold being stored. Imagine that, in some mysterious way, the gold reserves of the United States should disappear, and no one knew about it. We would continue to carry on with our buying, with our money having the same value it has now. But, if the theft should become known, then at once our money value would drop to nothing.

It is not my intention to enter into a discussion of economics; I merely wished to make a point regarding the unreality of money. If you have followed the reasoning given so far, you will agree with me that money is not a material thing at all, but a means of exchange based on a nationally accepted idea.