Hi Ranty Nation! Ranty McRantyson har agin!

In mah last B2B article (Back to Basics) we dun talked bout whut a barter system is an why it just ain’t that gud. An we’all left off gittin ready to talk bout whut replaced the barter system in most countries. Money!

Ok, Whut do them Smart Folk Say Money is?

When ah have this talk bout money wit most folk, ah start by askin, “Whut do y’all dun thunk money is?”  More offener than not, folk dun say sumthin along the lines of “what we buy stuff wit”.  IMO, this answer dun comes frum the propaganda we’all dun bin fed fur the last 40-50 years.  Cuz of this, ah thunk we’all oughta start with the dictionary definition of money:

“Something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment”. — marriam-webster.com

Now that thar definition is fine, as far as it goes, but it dun lack whut ah consider the most important part: whut is bein exchanged?

Now ah didn’t come up wit the reasonin y’all’ll find below an ah’ll be durned if ah can remember where ah furst read about this har idea.  However, once ah did, it really opened mah eyes as to why folk don’t value, or even unnerstand, whut money really is to them an why thar be such a huge differnce between how much money regular folk have got compared to how much the rich have. The rich dun look at money in a whole differnt way than we’all do! But that’s fodder for nuther article…

Why’d People Create Money?

Unfurtunately, we really don’t know who invented money, but ah thunk it dun probly be the most important invention a human has ever made. So let’s talk bout whut money does.

Money was made so we cud buy an sell thangs witout havin to go thru the bother of a barter system.  However, whut y’all buy an sell ain’t what money is.  Before we talk bout whut money is, we need a refresher on the “barter system”.

Befur some really smart person figured out the idea of money, one furm or nother of the barter system (Barter – marriam-webster.com) was used to trade one or more thangs for one or more of nother. Most economists think of the barter system as bein overly difficult an not a very gud way to do buy an sell thangs.

In mah furst article, ah dun splained an example of how a barter system dun wurk . The short version is it ain’t very efficient (economist talk fur wastin a lotta time an energy).

So Why Do We Have  Money?

In the B2B, Pt 1 article bout the barter system, it dun boiled down that the shoe maker was tryin to trade his special type of work fur that of the special type of work of the cart maker.  Dependin on supply an demand (what y’all dun got vs whut y’all dun need), how much them thar shoes is wurth compared to the cart will probly change wit ever transaction between them two folk, dependin on who needs whut the most!  Cause of this, neither one really knows how well they dun gonna do each time they’all negotiate (bargain). Not only is a barter system “inefficient”, it’s pretty stressful too!

OK, Already! Whut Is Money?

So, if’n y’all look back at that thar definition of money ah provided above, money was created as a “medium of exchange” (fancy economist talk fur “ah’ll give y’all this much money for that stuff”).  Money ain’t a particular thang, but jus somethin that folk agree is wurth sumthin an can be used to buy stuff.

It really don’t matter whut is used fur money. Heck, some folk have used sea shells, wood coins, fur, paper, an even salt! In fact, that’s whar the old sayin, “They ain’t wurth thar salt” comes frum. In other wurds, they’re sayin they ain’t wurth whut they dun be gittin paid.

Interestin as all that is, we’all still ain’t really talked bout whut is being exchanged.  Money ain’t the stuff y’all want to git. It’s got to be somethin that each person has, but needs to trade so as everthin dun be fair an the same ever time.

It kind of reminds me of sumthin ah hurd when ah was a young’n:

“Everything commeth to he who waiteth, so long as he who waiteth worketh like Hell while he waiteth.”

— Anonymous (in other wurds, ah don’t know who dun said it!)

What Money Is Exchanging!

Now ah’ve dun left a bunch of clues so far an y’all might’ve already dun figured it out by now, but don’t be upset if’n y’all haven’t cause it took me readin it befur ah realized whut money was. So har’s whut money be:

Money is work!

Y’all might be sayin, “Ranty dun lost his mind! That ain’t whut money is!” But let’s take a closer look at this an see if’n this actually holds water.

Thunk back a bit an thunk bout whut y’all have to do to git money. If’n y’all’re readin this article, then ah’d assume y’all’re part of “We, the People”, y’all know, the bottom 90+% (yeah, ah know that when y’all assume sumthin, y’all make an “ass” outta “u” an “me“).

Y’all git up in the mornin an put ur pants on one leg at a time, like ah do. Then y’all probly eat some breakfast an head off to wurk (or, in these COVID-19 times, y’all put on a pair of shorts an a “business shirt” so y’all’ll look presentable on them “Zoom” meetins frum home). Y’all wurk for a week, two weeks, a month, an then y’all git a paycheck (MONEY!).

So, fur most Mericans, y’all do a buncha wurk an only then will y’all’s bosses give y’all sum money. If money weren’t wurk, then they’d pay y’all fur to take up space! An other than politicians, ah ain’t seen any jobs like that!

To Sum This Up

So, ah’d imagine that y’all’re thunkin, “Sheesh! All these wurds an all y’all’re gonna tell me is that ah have to wurk fur money? Ah already dun knew that!”

That’s true, most folk (at least in the bottom 90-99%) dun already know that. Understandin that money is wurk’ll dun change how y’all see how our economy wurks an how y’all dun be gittin taken vantage of witout ur knowin.

But as ah dun says above, that’s fodder for nuther article!

Ranty McRantyson signin off!