Currency Beginning Present And Future Essay Research

Currency, Beginning, Present, And Future Essay, Research Paper

Currency, the Beginning, the Present , and the Future

“Money – in the traditional sense no longer exists. It died two decades ago when Richard Nixon forever abolished the gold standard. Since then, money as we once knew it has been replaced by an unstable new global medium of exchange that is called ‘megabyte money’… megabyte money is a threat not only to our country’s long-term growth and prosperity, but to the individual as well.”

- Joel Kurtzman, The Death Of Money, 1993

Economy when it was first started was a seedling in a field. Poor and helpless to the environment. As this seedling grows, it becomes stronger and greater as a whole. The great Red Oak that the we as mankind has let it grow up to be is one of the greatest powers driving this planet. This Tree has become the nation.s immense forest and the forest keeps on growing with no end in sight. The thing that makes the economic tree so great, is currency. As America moves into the twenty firsts century at a rapid pace, the currency and economy is moving right along with it. As technology advances more and more the way that Americans pay for things has also changed. Americans are carrying less and less cash to the stores, but more credit cards and checks. The latest innovation that has come out is the smart chip. But is all this technology going to be the doom of civilization. In this paper the history, the present, and the future of money will be told.

In the Beginning the barter was the only way to exchange goods. The barter system is the exchange of resources or services for mutual advantage, and may date back to the beginning of humankind. Some would even argue that it’s not purely a human activity; plants and animals have been bartering for millions of years. This means that plants and animals have been know to help each other out. In any case, barter among humans certainly pre-dates the use of money. Today individuals, organizations, and governments still use, and often prefer, barter as a form of exchange of goods and services.

In twelve hundred BC cowries were first used. This was the shell of a mollusk that was widely available in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was in China. Historically, many societies have used cowries as money, and even as recently as the middle of this century, cowries have been used in some parts of Africa. The cowrie is the most widely and longest used currency in history. By the time 1000 BC bronze and copper cowrie imitations were manufactured by China at the end of the Stone Age and could be considered some of the earliest forms of metal coins. Metal tool money, such as knife and spade monies, was also first used in China. These early metal monies developed into primitive versions of round coins. Chinese coins were made out of base metals, often containing holes so they could be put together like a chain.

However some didn.t have access to cowries this lead to the domestication of cattle. This was used from nine thousand to six thousand BC. Cattle, which include anything from cows, to sheep, to camels, are the first and oldest forms of money. With the advent of agriculture came the use of grain and other vegetable or plant products as a standard form of barter in many. This system however ran into some flaws when there was no set standard on how much anything was worth.

About one thousand BC the first coined money was invented. They were bronze and copper cowrie imitations were manufactured by China at the end of the Stone Age and could be considered some of the earliest forms of metal coins. Metal tool money, such as knife and spade monies, was also first used in China. These early metal monies developed into primitive versions of round coins. Chinese coins were made out of base metals, often containing holes so they could be put together like a chain. Outside of China, the first coins developed out of lumps of silver. By 500 BC the modern coin came around. They took the familiar round form of today, and were stamped with various gods and emperors to mark their authenticity. These early coins first appeared in Lydia, which is part of present-day Turkey, but the techniques were quickly copied and further refined by the Greek, Persian, Macedonian, and later the Roman empires. Unlike Chinese coins, which depended on base metals, these new coins were made from precious metals such as silver, bronze, and gold, which had more inherent value.

In 118 BC leather money was used in China in the form of one-foot-square pieces of white deerskin with colorful borders. This could be considered the first documented type of banknote. However it wasn.t till 806 AD till the first paper bank notes appeared in China. In all, China experienced over 500 years of early paper money, spanning from the ninth through the fifteenth century. Over this period, paper notes grew in production to the point that their value rapidly depreciated and inflation soared. Then beginning in 1455, the use of paper money in China disappeared for several hundred years. This was still many years before paper currency would reappear in Europe, and three centuries before it was considered common.

Precious metals were later used to set a standard for Bank notes. Gold was officially made the standard of value in England in 1816. At this time, guidelines were made to all