money

Money is a convenient fiction that is used to define an abstract numerical value for a good or service. That numerical value changes based on the influences of supply and demand. That’s a basic truth taught in economics, and I don’t dispute it. One of the problems is that people look in their wallets or on their bank statements, and believe that they are looking at money. We’re not. Paper bills and coins represent value, but they are not value. Money doesn’t exist as a physical object. Bank computers hold electronic and magnetic impulses that represent value. When you buy a gold coin for $100, that $100 goes to the dealer, which goes into a bank. When you pull money out of an account, you are borrowing some value that you will use to purchase a good or service elsewhere. You don’t keep value, you keep physical objects representing value.