The Anti-Concepts of Money: What Is Money?

The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Keith Weiner

Merriam-Webster says money is “something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment.”

The Anti-Concepts of Money: What Is Money? - BullionBuzz - Nick's Top Six
Benjamin Franklin with sun glasses

Wikipedia says money is “any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment. Any item or verifiable record that fulfils these functions can be considered as money.”

With the anti-concept of employment, one could not say the definition is wrong by arguing that slavery doesn’t exist. The only way is to demonstrate that slavery and work-for-hire are not the same. And with money, one cannot say the definition is wrong by arguing that exchange is not facilitated by a medium.

The only way is to demonstrate that money and credit are not the same thing. An item and a “verifiable record” of an item are not the same. It is wrong to lump them into the same concept, and insidious too.

Up for discussion: Credit vs money; redeemable vs irredeemable; the proper definition of money; money supply; quantity theory of money; and conclusion.

“I will leave this as a rhetorical question: Would you expect gold mining, sound credit, and counterfeiting to work the same?”

“The diversion works, because these three different processes are presumed to have the same single effect, namely higher prices of goods.”

“It should be obvious that gold mining works nothing like Quantitative Easing. Their causes are not the same, their mechanisms are not the same, and their effects are not the same.”