I have been asked to do a series of videos in the basics of money, banking and related issues. There will be one each day this week. This is the first, on the crucial question, what is money? You would think we should all know. But the truth is, we don't.
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You produced a video about 9 months ago about “What is Money” so I am wondering why you haven’t referred those who are asking you to do a series of videos on the basics of money and banking to your existing first class productions on your You Tube channel. The channel is an excellent resource which people seeking information can access easily and I have referred people to it on many occasions, including providing links on the Scottish Currency Group and Scottish Banking & Finance Group Facebook pages.
This one is also called “What is Money”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6DKwi_o-Zw&t=11s
This one is about how banks create money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s38iSjLKeiI
I think the stuff is already available for those who are asking for this information so why make more work for yourself?
My choice Jim
Almost exactly the conversation I had with two senior lawyers yesterday evening- we used a £10 note.
Unfortunately I failed to convince why it’s only the government that gives a currency ‘confidence’ through demanding taxes are only paid in that currency – as the conversation kept getting sidetracked by the Gold Standard , Breton Woods and the decoupling of the dollar in the early 70’’s which flagged off the neoliberal train to today…
One thing the lawyers have ‘heard’ and have an ‘opinion’ on is something called MMT which apparently is ‘nonsense’ – which to me was the most interesting revelation – how are otherwise intelligent senior professionals suddenly having a formed opinion about something they have just heard of and have not personally looked at?
This and your other videos are going straight to these people – let’s see if they can make up their own minds or get steered away.
Thanks
I had a similar conversation with someone who teaches economics. I can picture him in my mind but I can’t remember his name. He was unconvinced too. I asked him what he thought money was and his answer was that he wasn’t the right person to ask as wasn’t really important in economic theory!
Bizarre
From what I can recollect – this was about four years ago – he seems to have thought of money as just another commodity so that using it was just a convienient form of barter but that it was of no more significance for economic theory than, say, cotton.
Were those senior lawyers able to explain why MMT is nonsense? Or was that just received wisdom?
Did you ask for example who the government was borrowing from in the last year? Even lawyers should be able to understand that money borrowed from oneself is not debt.
How do they know?
They read it in the Telegraph. If it’s in there, it must be right.
If the Left support it, they must be wrong.
Richard, at some point, might it be useful to say something about the relationship between assets, interest and depreciation? Why do some assets depreciate but money does not seem to? Should money fall towards zero value if it is not spent? What are capital assets? Why does it appear money can be spent over and over again just because it changes hands? Can money be capital? Can you have capital shortages or excesses? Does that imply positive and negative interest rates accordingly? Consumable stuff is used or rots, is money exposed to any similar risks? How do risks and rewards relate to debts, bad debts and writing off debts?
Might be interesting to touch on some of the above I think, but just a suggestion, up to you. Many thanks, please keep up the good work.
Money is so much trouble, perhaps we should consider making all work voluntary and unpaid, all assets subject to community control, all goods and services provided on the basis of need. In the end money is used to keep score and maintain inequality.
[…] This is the second in series of videos on money related themes. The first is here. […]
[…] the third in my series of videos on money, banks and all things to do with them. I have explained that money is just a promise to pay, and also explained how banks create money when you make a promise to pay them. But in that case […]