Week 1 Blog- revised
My name is Becca and I just finished freshman year at the UW. I am thinking of being an English major. I like to read.
John Locke explains what money is: the means man has invented to appropriate goods. However, I would go further to say that money is merely a catalyst for the fluid exchange of wealth. Whereas trading involves dealing in perishable items, money can be easily stored and kept. It also makes it easier to determine the relative value of merchandise when everything is priced in dollars.
So, money is a paper representation of physical value that was invented so that people could exchange labor for goods. When one goes to work, one gets paid the value of one’s labor in dollars. Then one can exchange those dollars for goods and services that one has earned. The money system is most convenient because it allows for the fluid transfer of goods and services. Money can be exchanged for anything. In short, money is everything one needs to live.
If money is used to distribute how much each person gets, the economy is how much there is to go around. In a bad economy, the value of money is lower because there is less to go around. When the economy is bad, everyone suffers. When it is good, everyone is happier. The economy effects people collectively, whereas the distribution of money effects individuals. Still, bad economies effect people unevenly- those at the very top might notice little difference. This can be the difference between having to sell a third car and having to donate an extra kidney to pay rent.
The economy is a nation’s collective wealth and money is the means of measurement and exchange.
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