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To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 5:39:10 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Real money is that thing which, when you don't have it, you cannot buy anything.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 5:44:22 PM
From: Tommaso	Respond to of 116555

Real money is that thing which, if you do not have it, you cannot readily and conveniently buy anything. My cell phone and my watch are not money. The labor of my body is not money. However, it would appear from my definition that an acceptable credit card is money, whereas a U.S. savings bond is not.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 5:46:28 PM
From: Tommaso	Respond to of 116555

Real money is that which will buy a hamburger. Euros are therefore not real money within the United States. Gold is not real money.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 5:46:47 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

What's real money? It's all relative. One problem we have is that the guy with probably the best brain of the last century - Albert Einstein - elected to be a physicist, and not an economist. Measured in Gold - since 1980 until the recent times - we experienced great inflation, since during most of that period it took more and more Gold to buy cars, homes, haircuts - and even Dollars. Gold price - in Dollars - has been deflating during most of that period. Measured in Dollars, we had a milder inflation in the price of goods and services then if prices were measured in Gold. Measured in Black Gold - Oil - we experienced significant ups and downs in general prices, depending on many things which influenced the supply:demand ratio of this particular brand of "money". When I traveled in France in 1976, people made sour faces when they saw Dollars. By 1985, they loved them - right at the top, just as the Dollar was about to deflate - as measured in their own money. Getting 3 DM or Dutch Gilders for a buck was sweet. So, what am I saying here, with this attempt at humor? Perhaps, that maybe in the end there is no such thing as "real" money. He who can foresee the next swing in relative values - will be the winner.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 6:02:03 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

Real money is that which is accepted as real money. Real money is what I put in my wallet or in my pocket in addition to some other items that will not be accepted as payment. Real money is the only thing that will extinguish a monetary debt. Forgiveness of a debt, from the point of view of the IRS, is real money. Real money is an accepted convention, like wearing clothes. If you do not have clothes on, you will have a hard time buying a hamburger, even if you have some real money. Real money is something that ought not to be discussed in polite conversation, like real sex. And the more money you have the less you should discuss it, just like the more sex you are getting, the better it is that you not talk about it, especially if the sex you are getting is better than the sex that other people are getting.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 6:13:30 PM
From: Tommaso	Respond to of 116555

From an essay, "Buddhism and Money": Money is both a religion and the negation of religion, because the money complex is motivated by our religious need to redeem ourselves (fill our sense of lack). In Buddhist terms, the demonic results from the sense of self trying to make itself real (that is, objectify itself) by grasping the spiritual in this world. This can be done only unconsciously, that is, symbolically. Today, our most important symbol is money. Schopenhauer notes that money is human happiness in abstracto; consequently, one who is no longer capable of happiness in concrete sets one's whole heart on money. It is questionable whether there is really such a thing as happiness in abstraction, but the second half is true: to the extent one becomes preoccupied with symbolic happiness, one is not alive to concrete happiness. The difficulty is not with money as a convenient medium of exchange, but with the "money complex" that arises when money become the desired thing - that is, desirable in itself. How does this happen? Given our sense of lack, how could this not happen? Money is the "purest" symbol, "because there is nothing in reality that corresponds to it." [19] In itself it is worthless: you cannot eat or drink it, plant it, ride in it or sleep under it. Yet it has more value than anything else because it is value, because it is how we define value, and therefore it can transform into anything else. The psychological problem arises when life becomes motivated by the desire for that pure value. We all sense what is wrong with this, but it is helpful to make it explicit: to the extent that life becomes focused around the desire for money, an ironic reversal takes place between means and ends; everything is degraded into a mere means to that worthless end, all else is devalued to maximize merely symbolic ends, because our desires have been fetishized into that pure symbol. We end up rejoicing not at a worthwhile job well done, or meeting a friend, or hearing a bird-song - the genuine elements of our life - but at accumulating pieces of paper. How such madness could occur be comes apparent when we relate it to the sense of self's sense of lack, whose festering keeps us from being able fully to enjoy that bird-song (just this), etc. Since we no longer believe in am original sin, what can it be that is wrong with us? Without some religious expiation, how can we hope to recover? Today the sociallyapproved explanation -- the contemporary original sin -- is that we do not have enough money; and the solution is to get more, until we have enough. ccbs.ntu.edu.tw

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (31445)	6/4/2005 7:28:56 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

REAL MONEY is something which: 1.) can act as a medium of exchange; 2.) maintains its value over time. Since most purchases are made some time in the future, after earning the "medium of exchange", a "medium of exchange" which does not "maintain its value over time" also fails in its role as a "medium of exchange". Nations which have experienced high inflation, where employees immediately take time off from work on pay day to spend their money before it loses value, are just an extreme example of money which fails to act as an effective medium of exchange because it fails to maintain its value. Unlike an income, sales or valuation tax, the Monetarist tax is very inefficient and costly. Creating false money with a Monetarist tax results in lost productivity, mis-allocation of capital, and greatly reduced economic growth due to a lack of savings. Milton Friedman believes he is being charitable when he suggests reducing the Monetarist tax to 2% of GDP, while at the same time supporting those who replace income taxes with additional Monetarist tax. Yet he knows perfectly well the staggering costs the Monetarist tax imposes on the economy. A related problem occurs because Monetarists falsely believe that high levels of monetary velocity as a sign of a healthy economy, when in reality high levels of monetary velocity are a sign of a failing currency and speculation. Real money does not require a metal. Instead it requires discipline and honesty - something in very short supply. Metals have historically provided discipline and honesty because they cannot be easily replicated and their weight is obvious. .