Money

You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. You can occasionally smell its presence, people exude it - kind of, sort of. You get out of bed for it. It is important. You argue because of it. It makes you do things that you would not ordinarily do. We steal it and help others have it. It is both imaginary yet real. Are you thinking I am talking about love? Or something else? If it was not love, then you are a dreary individual.

I can swap my bananas for your wheat. Today one cup of wheat for two bananas. Tomorrow it will be two cups for five bananas. Yesterday I didn’t want any bananas, but I had surplus wheat, so I swapped my bananas for a piece of metal. The metal is shiny and soft. It does not rot nor tarnish. I can make golden jewellery with it or bash it for a few hours and make it so very thin that it can affordably gild an ornate picture frame. I can store my bits of metal for times when I am hungry, or in need of a few favours.

I can store my pieces of metal in a secret place. I can place it under the ground however, a dependable grifter is offering to take charge of gold and silver with a promise to return it at a later time with a premium attached. He will return eleven pieces of silver for ten handed to him. This will be after we both witness twelve new moons. He is no fool for he will use these tokens to provide others with the means to obtain goods that they can then trade. You see, if they place hundreds of bananas upon a ship and sail to another world, they can exchange them for something that we prize here.

When I hand my metal pieces to the dependable grifter he makes a sincere promise to return them. He makes a note of how many pieces I have deposited with him. It is written down in a ledger and a receipt is given to me. I can quite legitimately hand my receipt to someone else who will give me goods in exchange for it. The only caveat is that they will have to wait quite a while before they can redeem the receipt for the pieces of metal. This type of receipt is a bond. It has a redemption date and a coupon – interest.

Some people store their pieces of metal under the bed. They retrieve them during the winter, when it is cold and the skies are grey, to swap them for food and fuel for the fire. They work long hours during the nice summer days and rest when things stop growing. They copy animals who bury nuts for leaner times. What frustrates both the nut hoarding animals and the metal hoarding apes, are thieves and villains who will take things that they did not store. People steal your stash if it is not hidden well. The apes can leave their stash with the dependable grifter who has a bunch of vicious friends that will guard it well. One can deposit pieces of metal with the dependable grifter with a different understanding than mentioned before. With this other understanding, one need not wait twelve new moons, nor one new moon, nor any new moons. One can ask for their metal pieces back at any time. The dependable grifter offers pieces of paper showing that he owes you an amount of silver and gold. The pieces of paper guarantee the return of the metal. That guarantee can be transferred to others in lieu of goods and services on offer.

The dependable grifter guarantees the return. How dependable is he though? He has form. He has people that vouch for him. People have used his services for a long time and trust him. People have confidence in him. Money is confidence.

The dependable grifter has one hundred pieces of gold and has issued one hundred pieces of paper promising the return of them. Each piece has been cast to a set weight. Obtaining gold is a laborious task. It entails digging holes, deep in the ground, or panning specs from freezing cold streams, deep in the forest. Printing promissory notes is fast and easy. What if the dependable grifter printed more notes than he has gold pieces for?