Economics 101, Or When Currency Isn’t Current Anymore
Once upon a time, many, many years ago, necessary goods and services were exchanged, necessary being the operative word. If someone was hungry, he offered a service or something to the person who was providing food. If someone needed shoes, they offered the shoemaker something that he needed. That is, until there was a thing called money (or magic paper).
Trees were cut and this printed magic paper was mass-produced, and someone with superpowers decided that it was worth something. And currency (or money) was born.
When people started collecting this magic paper, they also started amassing things. And purchasing power came to be. But before the magic paper, only the necessities were traded so there wasn’t a surplus of stuff (and the devastation of trees and forests).
But the people with all of this stuff needed somewhere to put it, so they cut down more trees and built little boxes. Depending on where the box was, it was worth more or less than where another box was. Same box in a different place on the planet (where more people wanted to live) was worth more, requiring more magic paper (and more trees).
And then someone decided that it wasn’t enough to own a box, but that you had to own the place on the planet where the box was too (as if one could actually own a piece of the planet). But everyone pretended that this was possible and more magic paper was needed to buy a piece of the earth. And everyone wanted a box. And the law of supply and demand came to be.
There were some people who had a lot of stuff, but didn’t have enough magic paper to buy a box (or the land that it went on), so the people who had lots of extra magic paper bought the box and sold it to the people who had all of the stuff.
Then, many years later, something happened. Everyone realized that the boxes weren’t worth as much anymore and neither was the magic paper, and the paper began to lose its magic (and its value).
So the people began to ask questions like, what really has value? Is it the magic paper? Is it the stuff in the box? Is it the box? Or maybe it’s the place that the box is on that we can never really own, but we can certainly learn to share.
In a few years, magic paper might not mean a thing. Currency is anything but current. We might have to go back to basics and learn how to get along, share, play nice, and trade things in order to survive.
If we went back to the exchange method, granted, some of us would starve. What talents and services would we be able to offer? What would I trade for a pair of shoes or a hot meal?
I thought of everything that I might need to survive if it came down to this. I realized that the planet (that we can never own) supplied all of it. I thought of the necessities like food, shelter, water, and clothing which would be made from cotton, multi-purpose hemp, or wool from sheep (I would have to learn how to weave or knit). I could even get creative and still have my vanity extravagances, like perfume from the honeysuckle and jasmine flowers that intoxicated me when I passed them or improvise a lip tint and blush from beets and berries.
This might sound ridiculous, but if anyone had predicted the box we are all in together now, no one would have believed it. Soon we’ll be trading the stuff we don’t need (if anyone will take it) for the stuff we really do.
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Robyn Justo is a freelance writer who is experienced, but by no means an expert, on the frustrations, triumphs, and general hysteria of single life. “The Expiration Date” addresses the lighter side of living, dating, and just getting through the day. The names have been changed to protect the innocent (and the guilty). Please feel free to contact her directly at: robynjusto@aol.com.
