Most people understand what is used for money (fiat currency). When asked to define money I do not believe most people can come up with a concise, accurate description.
If you care about your financial well being, you should know the characteristics of money (durability, fungability, unit of account, etc.). That said, the characteristics of money in my opinion are inadequate to describe what money fundamentally is.
Money is a representation of the expenditure of human time, talent, and effort.
If you work for a paycheck, the "money" you are paid, is meant to be a representation of the hours you spend away from your family, away from the pursuits that interest you, where you forfeit the ability to exercise absolute sovereignty over your existence.
Unless you live in a despotic, totalitarian (typically communist or socialist) society, you more or less voluntarily trade your time, talent, and effort in exchange for "money" as compensation. "Money" can take many forms, be it blueberries, oil, gold, or fiat currency - but the critical component to make something money is it MUST be a reasonable representation of an expenditure of human time, talent and effort in the past, present, or future. This is fundamentally what determines the value of any thing as money.
Many big names in the precious metals community use the term "sound money." For money to be sound, it should be an accurate representation of an amount of human effort, efficiently expended in a venture that produces something desirable enough to another human being to trade an equivalent expenditure of their time, talent and effort for.
Precious Metals and fiat currency represent two extremes, with one being sound, one being completely unsound.
Fiat money, due to the insidious phenomenon of inflation is unsound money, as manipulations of the supply guarantee from one day to the next, it's value represents a different amount of human effort. Today, $10 may be enough to hire someone to perform menial labour. Tomorrow, the same labour may require $15. Granted in my life time, the decline of the value of fiat currency has been gradual to the point it's difficult to notice. History has shown in instances where fiat currencies have met their demise, the change in valuation happens much, much faster than that.
Precious metals, on the other hand have a natural restriction that prevent them in their physical forms from the manipulations every fiat currency in history suffer from. Consider this recent post from BrotherJohnF's blog along with the video documenting how silver is mined: What it takes to mine silver.
Also consider this video about gold prospecting from the movie "The Treasure of Sierra Madre"
When you hold 1 oz of silver or gold in your hand, what you are holding is an enormous expenditure of human effort, talent and time. In order to have an absolute equivalent substitute for that 1 oz, nearly the same amount human effort, talent and time has to be expended. This is one of the biggest reasons precious metals are sound money.
Fiat currencies in their current form represent debt obligations. The same is true of all paper assets redeemable in only fiat currency. They are the promise of future expenditures of human effort, talent and time that have no mechanism to ensure the bearer of them every actually receive the benefits of such expenditure.
This understanding of the fundamental essence of money is critical to invest in precious metals.
Sadly enough in our modern age of secular, enviro-religious tyranny and crony-capitalist greed-mongering, the concept of the true worth of human life is marginalized. As a consequence, the value the human experience as an expenditure of effort, talent and time is skewed.
With this false understanding of the human condition, how can anyone actually understand what money is?
If you care about your financial well being, you should know the characteristics of money (durability, fungability, unit of account, etc.). That said, the characteristics of money in my opinion are inadequate to describe what money fundamentally is.
Money is a representation of the expenditure of human time, talent, and effort.
If you work for a paycheck, the "money" you are paid, is meant to be a representation of the hours you spend away from your family, away from the pursuits that interest you, where you forfeit the ability to exercise absolute sovereignty over your existence.
Unless you live in a despotic, totalitarian (typically communist or socialist) society, you more or less voluntarily trade your time, talent, and effort in exchange for "money" as compensation. "Money" can take many forms, be it blueberries, oil, gold, or fiat currency - but the critical component to make something money is it MUST be a reasonable representation of an expenditure of human time, talent and effort in the past, present, or future. This is fundamentally what determines the value of any thing as money.
Many big names in the precious metals community use the term "sound money." For money to be sound, it should be an accurate representation of an amount of human effort, efficiently expended in a venture that produces something desirable enough to another human being to trade an equivalent expenditure of their time, talent and effort for.
Precious Metals and fiat currency represent two extremes, with one being sound, one being completely unsound.
Fiat money, due to the insidious phenomenon of inflation is unsound money, as manipulations of the supply guarantee from one day to the next, it's value represents a different amount of human effort. Today, $10 may be enough to hire someone to perform menial labour. Tomorrow, the same labour may require $15. Granted in my life time, the decline of the value of fiat currency has been gradual to the point it's difficult to notice. History has shown in instances where fiat currencies have met their demise, the change in valuation happens much, much faster than that.
Precious metals, on the other hand have a natural restriction that prevent them in their physical forms from the manipulations every fiat currency in history suffer from. Consider this recent post from BrotherJohnF's blog along with the video documenting how silver is mined: What it takes to mine silver.
Also consider this video about gold prospecting from the movie "The Treasure of Sierra Madre"
When you hold 1 oz of silver or gold in your hand, what you are holding is an enormous expenditure of human effort, talent and time. In order to have an absolute equivalent substitute for that 1 oz, nearly the same amount human effort, talent and time has to be expended. This is one of the biggest reasons precious metals are sound money.
Fiat currencies in their current form represent debt obligations. The same is true of all paper assets redeemable in only fiat currency. They are the promise of future expenditures of human effort, talent and time that have no mechanism to ensure the bearer of them every actually receive the benefits of such expenditure.
This understanding of the fundamental essence of money is critical to invest in precious metals.
Sadly enough in our modern age of secular, enviro-religious tyranny and crony-capitalist greed-mongering, the concept of the true worth of human life is marginalized. As a consequence, the value the human experience as an expenditure of effort, talent and time is skewed.
With this false understanding of the human condition, how can anyone actually understand what money is?
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