moll.
Learn to science.
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2008
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- 2008
Interesting thought: we're all poor.
The definition of poverty would be having a lack of money, yes?
But, however, money itself technically doesn't exist, so we don't own any.
Ergo, we're poor.
"But that's stupid!" you say.
"Of course money exists!"
Not quite.
<O
</O
When you think money, the first thing that comes to mind are notes and coins, right?
But they aren't money.
They're just small metal discs and thin plastic rectangles.
They represent money.
For example, when you go to purchase something you give the nice man behind the counter one of your coins.
But that coin only represents a set amount of currency.
It isn't the currency itself.
You are in fact telling him that "I would like to purchase this here good/service for the previously arranged amount of money. I will give you this here coin which represents that amount of money and by giving it to you will theoretically transfer that amount of money to your possession."
At no moment in this exchange do you actually hand over money itself, simply something that represents it.
<O</O
The second things that come to mind are bank accounts, credit cards and other assets.
But have you ever actually held the money that they represent?
No.
Instead you've got a little piece of paper that tells you how much money you own.
In reality, you own some ink on paper and no more.
<O</O
So what is money?
That is the real question.
<O</O
Our entire society therefore, only works because of a mutual belief in the system of money and the exchanges which follow.
That shopkeeper won't accept your coin if he doesn't also believe it represents money.
Why would he?
If it didn't represent money, your note or coin would be virtually useless.
Travel into the deepest parts of the Amazon basin, meet one of the remote tribes and offer them coins and notes and they'll just think you're weird.
(And possibly kill you for tresspassing on their land.)
They haven't been brought up and indoctrinated in our society, so they put absolutely no value on things that many of us would kill for, such as a cheque for a $100 million.
But what if this system fails?
What happens if we don't trust each other or in the money representations anymore?
Well that's called a sub-prime mortgage crisis.
<O</O
A few years ago, some bright spark in the U.S. though up the idea that it'd be great to give out low-interest mortgages to people with a bad credit history or who could only just manage to pay it back.
If they failed to pay it back and defaulted, the bank could simply seize their house and assets and sell them, making a profit on the interest that had already been paid, as well profiting from higher house prices between the time of the issuing of the loan and foreclosure.
And if they did manage to keep on top of the payments, it was written into their contracts that these loans would start off as low-interest, but would soon get up to approximately 20% interest in a matter of months, making it virtually impossible to repay.
Furthermore, these loans targeted the poor and uneducated, and it was they who had the least understanding of the contractual clauses involved.
This worked great for the first few years as house prices went through the roof because it was easier for the layman to upgrade to a better house.
But, in the end it has all come crashing down.
Due to sheer number of people defaulting on their mortgage loans, a large number of houses were sold at the bare minimum price as the banks seized them, bringing down average prices in the area and across the country.
This in turn made the new sub-prime mortgages less profitable, which made the banks increase their interest rates.
Meanwhile, rates continued to increase in the already issued loans, and more and more people were defaulting.
Eventually, this reached a point where the banks were seizing property that was worth even less than when they had financed it's purchase, and the banks were actually losing money.
And a lot of it.
But thankfully the banks were insulated from this as they had wrapped up the mortgages into a package and resold them to others!
However, as the Wachowski Brothers noted, fate has a sense of irony, and the major purchaser of these sub-prime loans were in fact other banks.
Thus, if one bank had problems, they all had problems, and unfortunately the system began crashing down on all their heads at the same time, creating one big fat charlie foxtrot.
<O</O
<OAs a result</O<O, the share prices of these banks have plummetted as they lost billions of dollars, to the point where the U.S. Government had to step in and start funding some of the banks just to prevent their collapse.</O
<OThis has also had flow-on effects, as banks were not the only ones to invest in the sub-prime packages.</O
<OAs a result, stock prices have plummeted by rates only outdown during the stockmarket crash of 1929, </O<Oand that crash was the precursor to the Great Depression.</O
<OAlso similarly to the 1929 crash, investors are now pulling out of the stock market and losing their faith with capitalism (and by extension the money system) due to the sheer scale of the losses.</O
<OPeople are also turning back to investments in gold and other such tangible goods, due to the fact that these precious resources barely ever lose value.</O
<O</O<O</O
So it's no wonder that since the Second World War the world has slowly turned secular or even atheist.
Most of us are so caught up and obsessed with our belief in the monetary system that we don't have room for any other beliefs, lest we waste precious money-making time for them.
So it sucks to be God right about now.
It looks like he's been relegated to the dunce corner in favour of Money.
Thus, in summary:
ALL HAIL MONEY!
MAY HE LIVE FOREVER!
Especially if he lives in my wallet.
<O</O<O</O
<O</O
<O</O
(And yes, i'm well aware that this is reasonably ridiculous, but it's just for fun.)
The definition of poverty would be having a lack of money, yes?
But, however, money itself technically doesn't exist, so we don't own any.
Ergo, we're poor.
"But that's stupid!" you say.
"Of course money exists!"
Not quite.
<O
</OWhen you think money, the first thing that comes to mind are notes and coins, right?
But they aren't money.
They're just small metal discs and thin plastic rectangles.
They represent money.
For example, when you go to purchase something you give the nice man behind the counter one of your coins.
But that coin only represents a set amount of currency.
It isn't the currency itself.
You are in fact telling him that "I would like to purchase this here good/service for the previously arranged amount of money. I will give you this here coin which represents that amount of money and by giving it to you will theoretically transfer that amount of money to your possession."
At no moment in this exchange do you actually hand over money itself, simply something that represents it.
<O
</OThe second things that come to mind are bank accounts, credit cards and other assets.
But have you ever actually held the money that they represent?
No.
Instead you've got a little piece of paper that tells you how much money you own.
In reality, you own some ink on paper and no more.
<O
</OSo what is money?
That is the real question.
<O
</OOur entire society therefore, only works because of a mutual belief in the system of money and the exchanges which follow.
That shopkeeper won't accept your coin if he doesn't also believe it represents money.
Why would he?
If it didn't represent money, your note or coin would be virtually useless.
Travel into the deepest parts of the Amazon basin, meet one of the remote tribes and offer them coins and notes and they'll just think you're weird.
(And possibly kill you for tresspassing on their land.)
They haven't been brought up and indoctrinated in our society, so they put absolutely no value on things that many of us would kill for, such as a cheque for a $100 million.
But what if this system fails?
What happens if we don't trust each other or in the money representations anymore?
Well that's called a sub-prime mortgage crisis.
<O
</OA few years ago, some bright spark in the U.S. though up the idea that it'd be great to give out low-interest mortgages to people with a bad credit history or who could only just manage to pay it back.
If they failed to pay it back and defaulted, the bank could simply seize their house and assets and sell them, making a profit on the interest that had already been paid, as well profiting from higher house prices between the time of the issuing of the loan and foreclosure.
And if they did manage to keep on top of the payments, it was written into their contracts that these loans would start off as low-interest, but would soon get up to approximately 20% interest in a matter of months, making it virtually impossible to repay.
Furthermore, these loans targeted the poor and uneducated, and it was they who had the least understanding of the contractual clauses involved.
This worked great for the first few years as house prices went through the roof because it was easier for the layman to upgrade to a better house.
But, in the end it has all come crashing down.
Due to sheer number of people defaulting on their mortgage loans, a large number of houses were sold at the bare minimum price as the banks seized them, bringing down average prices in the area and across the country.
This in turn made the new sub-prime mortgages less profitable, which made the banks increase their interest rates.
Meanwhile, rates continued to increase in the already issued loans, and more and more people were defaulting.
Eventually, this reached a point where the banks were seizing property that was worth even less than when they had financed it's purchase, and the banks were actually losing money.
And a lot of it.
But thankfully the banks were insulated from this as they had wrapped up the mortgages into a package and resold them to others!
However, as the Wachowski Brothers noted, fate has a sense of irony, and the major purchaser of these sub-prime loans were in fact other banks.
Thus, if one bank had problems, they all had problems, and unfortunately the system began crashing down on all their heads at the same time, creating one big fat charlie foxtrot.
<O
</O<O
As a result</O<O, the share prices of these banks have plummetted as they lost billions of dollars, to the point where the U.S. Government had to step in and start funding some of the banks just to prevent their collapse.</O<O
This has also had flow-on effects, as banks were not the only ones to invest in the sub-prime packages.</O<O
As a result, stock prices have plummeted by rates only outdown during the stockmarket crash of 1929, </O<Oand that crash was the precursor to the Great Depression.</O<O
Also similarly to the 1929 crash, investors are now pulling out of the stock market and losing their faith with capitalism (and by extension the money system) due to the sheer scale of the losses.</O<O
People are also turning back to investments in gold and other such tangible goods, due to the fact that these precious resources barely ever lose value.</O<O
</O<O</OSo it's no wonder that since the Second World War the world has slowly turned secular or even atheist.
Most of us are so caught up and obsessed with our belief in the monetary system that we don't have room for any other beliefs, lest we waste precious money-making time for them.
So it sucks to be God right about now.
It looks like he's been relegated to the dunce corner in favour of Money.
Thus, in summary:
ALL HAIL MONEY!
MAY HE LIVE FOREVER!
Especially if he lives in my wallet.
<O
</O<O</O<O
</O<O
</O(And yes, i'm well aware that this is reasonably ridiculous, but it's just for fun.)
