Would you spend your scarce time working for this?
Money as a concept is an abstraction upon human social arrangements. Countless books have been written to explore endless rabbit holes of both modern and historical financial systems. I will attempt to put down a clear picture in the time it takes you to drink your morning coffee.
Money is a claim on future work or energy: This view on money captures the very real idea that if money has value and an individual possesses money it then follows that an individual can exchange this money with another individual or firm for something of value from them. One of the things of value that almost all individuals share is the ability to do work. Therefore money can be viewed as potential future "work".
Sound money: Money has critical implications for human interaction therefore it should be based on fundamentally sound principles. A society that agrees to use a certain form of money should reach consensus on basic features of that money like supply and costs associated with transacting. So-called Sound Money advocates will argue the Federal Reserve does not practice Sound Money with the US national currency because its methods for creating more money are not based on solid foundations nor is the FED held accountable for decision-making nor is it an inclusive decision-making institution. The central banking model itself is one of the largest vestiges from an industrial era where it made sense to centralize decision-making.
"Scarce money creates abundant & abundant money creates scarcity." - I first heard this quote from Jimmy Song (https://everipedia.org/wiki/jimmy-song-bitcoin/) and it immediately struck a chord with me. In my opinion, money is a resource for creating more assets and ultimately wealth. It is important never to confuse money and wealth. When money is scarce there is an incentive to create quality goods and services. When money is abundant that is a signal that its value may be lower and the incentive to create quality goods and services may deteriorate. The health of an economy is measured by the quality of its goods and services and not its money supply. In my opinion, this is the strongest argument for a monetary system based on sound principles. To increase the global wealth and prosperity of mankind.
So you are probably asking yourself "@john-robert is sure critical of existing institutions, but we know all that. Is he going to offer a better alternative or just further the fear-mongering about money currently on the internet?" I am glad you asked - I do propose a better system for the above considerations. Stay tuned for the next post - 