What is the strangest thing used as official/unofficial currency in history?
Early Chinese states apparently used knives as a form of currency.
>>529565
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_money
A bunch of places used cowry shells
>>529565
Some places in Africa used bottlecaps. I think some of them continue the practice today.
pretty sure cow shit patties were as good as gold in India at one point
>>529565
paper
scalps, ears and various other body parts
the mistake the US made in the vietnam war was to try to use state planning to run the military, when really a guerrilla war needs a more ad-hoc approach, a free market as the US did in historical guerrilla wars
if we offered to pay large sums for the severed penises of enemy fighters, the vietcong would be up against criminal enterprises appearing spontaneously and infiltrating their own ranks in order to acquire the valuable commodity, to escape this fate men would lay down their arms and flock to the authorities for protection
>>529588
vault boy pls go
>>529588
lol. Even at this point in Fallout, real money is replacing bottlecaps.
Fucking Africa. What a meme continent. What was God thinking?
>>529570
Seriously? How would you tell traveling merchants from roaming serial killers?
>>529570
"Why can't I hold all these knives"
>>529640
The former (or anyone else) typically travelled in groups to deter the latter.
>>529605
America lost because of that bullshit childish Rambo wannabe crap.(Also all those Star Wars nerds trying to make an "all seeing eye")
>>529638
There is literally no difference between a bottle cap and an American dollar in economics. They both measure consumption and externalities except the bottle cap does it better
>>529712
>There is literally no difference between a bottle cap and an American dollar in economics.
africa pls go
If I recall correctly salt was used by many cultures as a means of currency due to its scarcity and perceived value
Also the Netherlands used tulip bulbs as a form of payment
>>529750
I don't think salt was used currency, but it was used as payment, particularly in Rome.
>>529750
>tulip bulbs
Would they not rot?
idk but i'd rather hand over a 10 dollar bill than 10 totinos
>>529712
Except one is a reserve currency that is backed by gold and the other is a bottlecap.
Any FIAT currency, so the dollar, the pound etcetc
Yapese use giant stone wheels as currency.
>>529712
Bottlecaps are easily produced compared to a dollar
>>529842
The most retarded form of money
>>529842
how big is 'giant'?
>>529848
>>529826
>dollar is a reserve currency backed by gold
>>529847
It works so it can't be that retarded.
It's easy to steal small coins. If you steel from someone the entire community will know it.
>>529857
shid
[spoiler]how much will it buy?[/spoiler]
>>529864
It's hard to carry one of those for a transaction away from your house
It's not easy convertible into another form of money
It is not divisible into fractions of the unit
>>529872
There weren't many goods on yap to trade. When you did make a trade it was enough of an event to warrant you and a buddy grabbing a stick and getting rolling.
Really, the big rock wheels make more sense than small coins or relatively rare metals. The stones are relatively hard to make so the value remains pretty constants.
>>529864
>steel
>not a single mention of based Choco Pies
These delicious little shits are so goddamned fantastic that before Tongyang pulled their factory out of North Korea in 2013, their workers got 20 of 'em per day alongside their regular wages.
When you consider that these chocolatey disks of love and marshmallow could fetch upwards of $9.00 USD on the North Korean black market, that was a pretty goddamned good deal.
What's even more interesting is that AFTER the closing of the factory, people stopped selling and buying Choco Pies, and began using them as currency outright.
>>529605
As much as I think something like that would probably be effective, knowing human nature, the problem is the place America loses many of their wars is in the public opinion theatre, and that tactic wouldn't have gone over well at home.
The days where murdering savage injuns was a just act for the benefit of civilization is gone.
>>529756
If it was a store of value that could be exchanged for goods it's just as well a currency.
>>529872
>>Rai stones are large circular disks with a hole in the center, like a doughnut, and stand as high as 12 feet tall and weighs as much as five tons each. Some of these stones are so large, they aren’t physically moved at all. They are simply owned, like immovable assets, and their transaction or ownership is recorded in the oral history. The physical location of the Rai is not important, the ownership is. In one instance, a large Rai was being transported by canoe when it accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the Rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as genuine currency. When moving a Rai is necessary, a strong pole is passed through the hole and carried by men to the required destination. Smaller Rai stones measure 7-8 centimeters in diameter and are far easier to transact.
>>529847
>>529872
>The most retarded form of money
>It's hard to carry one of those for a transaction away from your house
>failing to grasp the concept this hard
They don't roll the fucking things around for christ's sake, they verbally exchange ownership of the stones, not the physical stones themselves.
Before you start mouthing off about how that's stupid, what the fuck do you think happens to the money you have in the bank?
>>529871
That depends on what the tradable goods on the island are. The largest purchases would correspond to the largest stones and the smaller purchases the smaller stones.
IDK
>>529756
I think I heard it's a myth that Roman soldiers were ever payed in salt.
>>529883
no, the stones weren't usually moved. It was just understood by the community which ones were owned by which people.
The Yapese told a researcher once about how one of the stones was being transported from another island or something and it fell off the boat into the ocean. Obviously there was no way to retrieve it but 'the stone at the bottom of the ocean' was still owned by a specific person and it could be spent on trades in a purely contractual manner.
>>529913
>a large Rai was being transported by canoe when it accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor
>Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the Rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as genuine currency
The absolute madmen.
>>529916
Precisely because money now is more an idea than a physical thing, that concept is retarded.
Who'd be the richest man in town then, the one with more stones in his backyard?
>>529929
And after decades, that stone at the bottom of the ocean still holds value because "we respect each other's word" I insist: Retard currency
>>529945
>Who'd be the richest man in town then, the one with more stones in his backyard?
Isn't this true for all forms of currency in history, disregarding inflation?
>>529929
Yes, they were moved around, as you just said they were. That's why they were wheels. Two guys and a big stick could move even the large ones. They would prop them up against their homes to show them off to the neighbors. Have a lot of big wheels was like having a nice car.
What you are saying is that SOMETIMES they didn't move them around.
>>529945
>And after decades, that stone at the bottom of the ocean still holds value because "we respect each other's word" I insist: Retard currency
How is that retarded? You keep saying it but you aren't giving justification.
>>529971
Because anon doesn't understand that currency is to ensure equivalent exchange, not the act of having a big stash of cash
>>529712
but star wars came out in 1977, 2 years after the war ended
>>529906
It would not be murder and you don't need to think of them as savages. It would just be another way to kill enemy combatants like a smart bomb or napalm.
>>529988
Go tell that to any modern central bank. With that amount of cash that stone currency society would not grow to be a pre-industrial society
>>529712
>They both measure consumption and externalities
Anon, you have no idea what you're talking about.
>>529750
Can confirm the tulip bulbs.
The turks sold them to us for insane amounts of money. At one point they were worth the equivalent of €500,000 or so, before people realised they were just fucking tulips
>>530009
Just because the stones aren't viable on a large scale does not make their system retarded. It works wonderfully for their purposes.
It's like calling it retarded to own an oven because it's simply not viable for commercial use when compared to an industrial oven that pumps out 5000 hot pockets a minute.
>>529941
>ancient Federal Reserve
>>530025
There's a much harder way to create wealth with that system because they're too big.
>>529941
>I'll sell you my hut for 1 Rai
>Sure thing it's at the bottom of the ocean
>okay cool here's your hut :^)
ancient culture sounds fun
>>529913
>I'll trade you this stone on the bottom of the ocean that nobody has seen in 100 years in exchange for 5 cattle
>>530009
Banks don't simply hold on to money. It's always trading hands. That's why banks pay you to keep your money with them. It allows them to invest it.
>>530037
The very workload involved in their creation is what gives them value, this isn't some fiat bullshit.
>>530044
Not many banks are doing that, anon. Even there are negative rates (Switzerland)
>>530041
>I'll sell you my house for 2 million dollars
>Sure thing here's a few numbers on your computer screen
>okay cool thanks senpai
>>530051
>2 years pass
>Hey can I buy your house with my Rai thats at the bottom of the ocean
>no fuck off you think I'm dumb
>>530050
Every big bank does that, that's how banks work nowadays.
>>530050
Literally every bank does that. It's the entire purpose of a bank. They give out loans using other peoples money which they keep keep safe.
>>530050
Wwwell, wwwell Your money isn't here. It's in people's hhhouses like Mrs Jones here.
>>530068
That's the purpose: To encourage spending instead of saving
>>530076
We should spend more on Saturn V 2.0 rockets and less on big screen televisions and jewelry. I feel like we are using up Earth's resources just for the sake of using them up. We spend for spending's sake.
I just felt like saying that.
>>530154
Welcome to capitalism. As sad as it is, it's these luxuries and superfluous items that drive economies and make capitalism work better than communism
>>530181
But if the government just taxed more to allocate more funding to the exploration, exploitation, and eventual colonization of space then everyone would have jobs and the economy would be healthy, it would just be dedicated to shit that actually benefits humanity.
>>530190
Sorry bud.
Need mo money fo dem programs.
>>530198
That's what the additional taxes would be for. Everyone gets what they need to live comfortably and healthy and less to waste on luxury goods. Instead of allocating millions of humans to making iphones we will allocate them to building rockets and asteroid mining rigs.
>>530042
Its the concept of ownership. Ooga Booga gives a Rai to Ooga Looga in exchange for 5 cattle, then, later on, Ooga Looga decides to trade ownership of the Rai for some wood or some shit from Ooga Rooga.
I'm not from /pol/. I just thought that it would be funneh to have those names
>>530202
Robin hood fallacy and government inefficiency.
You can't guarantee that those resources will be utilized properly or efficiently. All evidence indicates the opposite. Imagine if space travel were run like the DMV. Hell, there's no guarantee they will be put to this use at all. Voters don't care about space so politicians do not care about space. Given the cost for this is a hindered economy and large mutli-national corporations jumping ship, skimming employees or finding more loopholes it hardly seems a worthy venture.
It's a nice thought anon but all you've done is exchange private excess and efficiency for public excess and government waste. Just wait for space to become profitable and for pic related to make your dreams a reality.
>>529565
Salt was used as currency for a long time, especially in East Africa and the Sahara.
>>530238
You are presuming so much.
First off, even if inefficiency rises with the amount of money spent it will still be a more beneficial thing to spend money on than luxury goods for the sake of humanity. Secondly, increasing the scale of production decreases unit costs and makes it such mission failures are not catastrophic. You can just do the same mission on the rocket launching a week later. Without the need for high success rate contracts can be given out to the lowest bidder. And as more and more money is spent on space tech the better it will get.
>>530276
>yeah just raise taxes we'll be on Mars in no time
Higher taxes doesn't mean jack shit but poorer citizens and a worse economy.
Lower the taxes.
>as more and more money is spent on space tech the better it gets
More money =/= Better
However, I do agree that you should scrap all socialist gibsmedats and focus more on space for example, doesn't mean you should up taxes. Lower the taxes, use the money more efficiently.
Tax money is very very rarely spent even remotely efficiently, in any country.
>>530317
Bullshit. If employment is high then there isn't a problem. The only problem is the transition period where we don't have the people with the skill sets and the infrastructure necessary for the task.
>Spending more money on R&D within a field doesn't improve the tech within that field relative to if little to no money was spent in the field.
Yes, yes it does, and obviously so.
The ONLY hurdle in significantly scaling up the exploration, exploitation, and colonization of space is convincing more people of it's necessity and how the luxuries they by with their yearly tax returns are slowly killing us all. You and I both agree it is necessary, we just have to convince others.
>>530058
>2 years pass
>hey can I buy your house with these numbers on a computer screen
>no fuck off, the financial system collapsed and no one accepts "computer bucks" any more
>>530267
Salt being used as a currency isn't so weird to be honest.
You needed it to live and it was great for preserving food.
>>530347
>if employment is high then there isnt a problem
What? Higher taxes will not result in higher employment, quite the opposite.
Honestly I don't know if its necessary in this day and age, I do believe it is necessary to keep track of objects that could hit earth as one such catastrophic event easily could be the end of the modern world.
However, paying for it with more taxation is not the way to go. It won't become cheaper unless you let the free market go at it.
>>529565
In early colonial australia; Rum.
>>530347
I'm not saying the system couldn't be improved, but selling "useless luxuries" creates wealth and is ultimately good for the economy. Wealth created through seemingly trivial means can be repurposed towards more substantive ends.
A direct example of this: Jeff Bezos founds Amazon, a company that exists primarily to sell luxury goods, and on the face of it seems to do little to "benefit humanity". He becomes fabulously wealthy as a result, and reinvests a significant portion of that wealth into Blue Origin, a company that is developing cheap, effective, reusable rockets to one day take humans into space.
A less direct example: Rich person buys a luxury car. The factory that makes this car employs hundreds of people who, as a result of the money put into the company by rich people buying superfluous luxuries like sports cars, are paid quite well. Since they are paid well, there is more money for the government to tax, which it then spends on NASA.
If you want to spend money on giant government projects, you need a strong economy to power your tax base. As we saw during the cold war, a strong economy is created through lowering taxes and loosening regulations (within reason), not the reverse. The issue is not that people are being taxed too little. The money is there. The issue is that it is not spent on space and science, but rather on welfare (personal and corporate) and the military.
>>530384
You are missing the entire point. The point of the high taxes is to get more of the economy dedicated to the exploration, exploitation and colonization of space. The taxes are to reduce the expenditure on luxuries and increase the expenditure on jobs relating to space.
>>529605
This is actually an ingenious idea.
>>530418
No, you cant distinguish between viet kong penises and peasant penises. You'd end up with cartels slaughtering remote villages because it's easier to kill and mutilate unarmed rice farmers than it is to kill viet kong members.
>>529570
I thought it was axe heads.
>>530351
I wish we could use salt now as currency, but alas..
Hell, we might start using water as currency again.
>>530404
>but selling "useless luxuries" creates wealth and is ultimately good for the economy
Making luxuries is busy work! It's getting people working for sake of working! We are burning through Earth's resources and seeing nothing for it. We need to replace the busy work with tasks that benefit humanity. Instead of building luxuries we will be building rockets and asteroid mining rigs.
The economy is nothing but how we are using resource be they mineral, energy, farm land, or the workforce. We want to allocate as much of those resources to space as possible and that means reducing them in other areas, areas like the production of luxury goods that serve no real practical purpose.
We live in an age spend money needlessly and we could do so much better.
>>530414
More of the economy will be dedicated to space stuff if you reduce taxes and deregulate the market. Way more than you could ever get from taxes.
Stop trying to limit peoples freedom and let people themselves decide. If people want luxuries over space exploration, let them have it, it's their money thus its their choice.
>>530440
>we
Then you go out and spend your money better, don't force others to do it.
>>530414
The government effectively assuming control over the economy will not lead to more money.
We have seen time and again that state controlled economies are weaker than more privatized ones. What you want is a thriving economy. That way, the government gets more money from taxes, which it can then spend on space projects, either directly or by subsidizing private companies.
If you're the government and you tax everyone 60% of their income and regulate the shit out of most industries, your population will become poor, your economy will shrink, and soon there'll be hardly any money for you to tax.
If, on the other hand, you tax everyone 20% and relax regulations, the economy will do better, people will get richer, and you'll ultimately get more money out of that 20% tax than you would have out of the 60% tax.
>>530443
Private companies have little reason to spend on space. The ONLY entity that choose to go to space is the government.
>>530022
So you're saying you got rused by Turks in the most romantic way possible?
>>530431
then maybe they'll start taking these more seriously
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Hamlet_Program
>>530448
You know that space exploration, exploitation, and colonization is necessary and you know private business has no reason to invest in it because the pay offs are generations away.
>>530465
How about the government instead takes the much more economically viable and personal freedom-friendly route of subsidizing corporations that focus on space?
>>530440
>getting people working for sake of working
There is literally nothing wrong with this. Fiat currency is a sham and luxury goods are not needed. The economy is a game. Value has always been assumed. I'd rather workers toiled for their own hedonism so taxes could be paid towards NASA than have people just work towards subsistence and no taxes be paid to any advancements at all. Sorry dude, it's just the way we are. How things play out when we experiment with collectivism. Although I do agree NASA deserves a bigger slice of the existing tax 'pie'.
Welcome to humanity. Thank your lucky stars some of us even aspired to travel through space at all.
>>530470
It'd be the same thing.
NASA already does most of its work through private corporations.
>>530465
>>530469
Right now? Yes. Although there are several private companies that spends money on space.
Forcing people to do something against their will rarely ends in something positive.
The same argument could be used for alternative energy.
What you miss is that humanity tends to go with what is the most effective and beneficent, this you can see throughout history. Take the wheel, domesticated animals or the car as an example.
If alternative energy actually was even remotely close to fossil fuels, it would be used more widely. At the moment it isn't, although we're coming closer every day.
The same goes for space, at some point you will see breakthroughs that will increase the efficiency of space business that will allow it to move forward.
If anything, we have learned that a forced great leap forward doesn't end well.
Increasing taxes is the last thing we need.
>>530470
Holy shit, anon. That's literally what I've been saying this entire time. The government gets the money in taxes and gives it out to private corporations to build the rockets, probes, habitats, and mining rigs.
It was a simple fucking question, fuck the whole lot of you, shit.
>>530474
>There is literally nothing wrong with this.
Nothing wrong and nothing good. I'm saying we can do better by getting people working for actually constructive endeavors.
>>530440
The problem that you see will not be most effectively solved by nationalizing the economy, but by having a strong, private economy that can then be taxed in service of space travel.
Besides (and I say this as an ardent supporter of space exploration and colonization), space is not the only ethically valid place to spend money. What about healthcare? Food? Welfare programs? Non-space related science? Defense? Cars and trucks for normal people? Infrastructure?
Nationalizing the economy and directing it entirely towards space would ultimately lead to massive unemployment, a crashed economy, and a technological regression in all non-space related areas. You'd also likely see massive corruption and inefficient use of funds.
If you really want a space-based future for humanity, you'll get it through a thriving economy that, through taxes, supports both government-run programs and subsidies for private corporations. You will get this economy by having a business-friendly environment (ie low taxes and relaxed regulations).
>>530499
this thread is about more than OP now, it is about space
>>529826
Only one of them is backed by a metal of any kind and it's not the dollar
>>530492
Right, but in order for there to be an environment that can support such corporations, you need a strong economy, and for that you need low taxes and regulations more or less across the board
>>529712
>Vietnam
>Star Wars
>all seeing eye
What?
>>530482
>exploring, exploiting, and colonizing space is important and necessary but only eccentric trillionaires should do it and not the government
No one can do it but the government and you know it. Only the government can retool the economy on that scale.
>>530504
I didn't say nationalizing the economy. Fucking hell. You guys hear "raise taxes" and you start filling in the gaps with an evil communist boogieman. The tax money will get bid out as contracts to corporations to build everything needed for exploring, exploiting, and colonizing space.
Squirrel skins were used in Finland. Maybe we are going to return to use them after euro falls.
>>530534
we don't care about that anymore
>>530524
Exploring/mining/colonizing space is not presently viable without government subsidization, and likely won't be for a long time.
You are suggesting devoting the majority of government money to space and taxing other sectors of the economy to oblivion to cover the costs. This will destroy the non-space sectors of the economy.
If the only functioning sector of the economy is one that needs massive government subsidies to be viable, where is the money for the subsidies going to come from?
>>530524
>no one can do it but the government
>only the government can retool the economy
That's not true.
>only eccentric trillionaires should do it and not the government
First of all, you don't have to be a trillionaire to be involed in space business and never did I say government shouldn't be involved.
Learn to read and perhaps take an economics class.
A worse economy and less freedom (what you propose) won't help at all, it will only worsen things.
All these stupid assumptions you come up with makes me think you are stupid, honestly.
>>530499
we space now nigga
>>530519
You are creating this ridiculous and circular abstraction of the economy.
The economy is just how we use resources be they mineral, energy, farm land, or the workforce. So long as they are being well utilized the economy is healthy. If the public at large has less money to spend on luxuries then companies that produce luxuries will liquidate their assets and companies that relate to the space industry will grow and multiply to fill in the gaps. If you find that hard to comprehend then just remember the the WW2 American economy retooling its factories from building cars to building aircraft and tanks. It's a lot like that.
>>530546
>you can't increase spending in one sector and decrease it in another because decreasing means UTTERLY NO SPENDING WHATSOEVER IN THAT SECTOR
>>530564
So are you just suggesting like a 5% tax increase on luxury goods coupled with a 5% reduction on space stuff or something?
I mean, sure, but that's hardly the large-scale restructuring of the economy you seemed to be suggesting.
>>530548
First of all, why do you hate paragraphs?
The economy can be directed. We can do it now instead of hoping the technology appears before we run out of the cheaply accessible fossil fossil fuels that makes modern global civilization possible. Humanity will never be more able to do it than now. You just want to buy all your luxury goods to make your life comfortable and leave all the hard work to the next generation.
>>530568
I'm suggesting we increase expenditures on the exploration, exploitation, and colonization as much as possible. It's more a public opinion battle than anything else. The public has to elect people who want this and have to be willing for their tax money to go to it. I'm just laying out how perfectly and utterly possible it is to do all this once we have that public opinion.
The hard part is you and me convincing people one by one that space is the place.
>>530573
No one is saying that the economy can't be directed. It's just that you're suggesting a non-optimal method of doing it (or else you've misrepresented your suggestions has being more drastic than they are).
SHUT.UP.
>>529565
Tea Bricks. The currency you can also drink.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_brick#Use_as_currency
>>530591
Where is the money going to come from if not taxes? What are you going to reduce? Reducing welfare programs isn't the answer. A safetynet for wage slaves is beneficial to keeping as many people as productive as possible. It's luxury goods that are the biggest waste, all those big screen televisions, sports cars, and price inflated DeBeers diamond rings.
>>529842
>So, do you think you can make change? All I've got is a quarter ton stone wheel.
>>530602
How do you turn them into tea after they have been compressed into bricks? You just crush and grind them up?
That actually sounds pretty efficient.
>>530608
you can buy bricks of tea like the in the supermarket here, I'm pretty sure you have to chip a piece off and grind it.
>>530615
What crazy country do you hail from, anon?
So, now that it's been decided, when are we going to space?
>>529646
>>530619
lol, Australia. They're in the foreign food section, they look like this. We have a high population of Korean students so thats probably why
>>530678
just realised thats chocolate, nevermind. But yeah they're in packaging like that
>>530678
So I need to find stupid koreaboo tea for this shit?
Rum was the first form of currency when Australia was first settled. For a good few decades too.
>>530697
They grew a lot of sugar cane down under?
>>530701
Tons of it in Queensland
>>530701
Yep and still do. Where I live we're surrounded by cane.
>>530712
Up until the 60s or so it was still done by hand with machetes. Backbreaking work in sweltering heat surrounded by snakes. Couldn't pay me enough to do that shit.
Drug dealers use Tide as currency. Shoplifting of tide was up an enormous rate, and they are locked down in certain stores.
>>530712
Completely mechanised
>>530725
That's cool. I always feel bummed out when I find out a crop I consume is harvested with wage slaves who can't even afford to send their kids to school. I hear the chocolate industry is like that.
>>530723
Why Tide specifically?
>>530733
Who knows, smoke enough crack and anything will make sense.
>>530733
Apparently because there's a lot of brand loyalty for it, it's deceptively easy to steal and it's purchased a lot so locking it up has a relatively big impact on sales.
>>530732
>I hear the chocolate industry is like that.
I imagine the coffee industry is the same. Mainly because it can only be grown in a very specific area called the coffee belt (which is roughly the same place that chocolate is grown in as well).
Always buy my coffee from the oxfam store to be safe.
>>530756
Ethical consumption in capitalism is impossible.
>>530762
I dunno about impossible. Difficult and expensive yes.
>>530762
No matter how poorly someone rates this post, it is an overrated post.
>>529565
The traditional tally sticks of Britan.
>>529565
>>530762
>still believing large societies have ethical agency
>still believing large societies have any agency whatsoever
It's okay kid. You'll grow up one day.
>>529640
Holy fuck what?
Do you flip shit anytime you see somebody holding a tool? Or a phone? Or anything that would be considered common to carry for that matter?
Because that basically what a knife has been since it was created.
>inb4 b-but why do you need sob many knives?
Having two or three knives isn't going to help you kill somebody any faster than somebody with one knife
>>529945
Little pieces of paper and numbers on computer screens only hold value because "we respect each other's word".
>>529904
!!!
US Marine who's done training with the ROK Marines twice, in 2014 and 2015 here. In the dark void of MREs, the shining light of the Choco Pie brought by Korean merchants to our artillery pause was the only thing that kept me going. Amazing to hear this about their power on the DPRK side, but understandable.
>>529565
ur moms dingleberries
>>530432
Axe heads were used in prehistoric Europe
>>529941
still_better_than_bitcoin.jpeg
>>529913
>value of a specific stone is based not only on its size and craftsmanship, but also on its history. If many people—or no one at all—died when the specific stone was transported, or a famous sailor brought it in, the value of the rai stone increases by reason of its anecdotal heft
>>532182
psst, fucktard, the US went off the gold standard when your grandma was bare
>>532217
You meen the bretton accords? You stupid fuck, that just determined that other countries could no longer turn in the dollar for gold.
>>529565
Surprized nobody mentioned cocoa for mesoamerica. Having chocolate as currency is pretty dank.
>>532182
I study economics, and I can tell you that the US dollar is not backed by gold.
It's backed by the promise of the federal reserve to uphold its value and then subsequently the US government and military's willingness to uphold the federal reserve, and subsequently the trust the rest of the world has in their capability to do this.
>>529565
>>529586
Damn you I came to this thread to post this
>>532229
The end of the Bretton accords (Kingston accords in 1976) put a definitive end to the role of gold as an international standard of parity
http://goldcoin.org/gold/gold-demonetized-by-the-jamaica-agreement/4018/
>>529570
I have heard that an early chinese currency was farm tools, like shovels and forks, but they invented a new currency which was manifested as little models of the farmyard tools that could fit in your hand.
>>529565
AFAIK pressed blocks of black tea were used as a currency in Mongolia and Siberia throught the ages.
>>529594
I volunteered in rural West Bengal for a month three years ago.
They use them as fuel.
They take the cow shit and dry it out on the roofs of their huts during the day, then burn it to keep warm at night.
As far as I could tell they didn't keep cattle for any other reason.
All the cows were fucking tiny and malnourished as hell, you wouldn't get any milk out of them and they obviously didn't eat them cos Hinduism.
Totally unrelated but they also had no concept of butchery whatsoever. If they slaughtered a chicken to eat it, they'd just hack it to absolute fucking bits with a machete/axe instead of separating the meat from the bone, so you'd get your meat with all bits of crunched up bone in it.
>>529565
David Graeber writes that one of the earliest forms of currency was human slaves.
>>529640
>>530975
Reminds me how in Eastern Europe, wandering watermelon salesmen would carry a large knife with them everywhere, so they could cut out a slice at any time.
Well into the 90s they were still allowed to board trains and even planes with their knives hanging from their belts, though by this point the authorities had started confiscating their knives upon boarding the plane (they would give them back after landing.)
Of course this is unthinkable nowadays.
>>529570
China under the usurper Wang Mang used 28 different types of coins. Tortoise shells and sea shells being two of them. He also issued knife coins.
>>532251
Money does grow on trees, well at least for them it did.
Which begs one to ask the question.
How the fuck did the rulers keep the pleb masses from growing their own money trees?
>>533215
Nothing, because they wanted more of it. Chocolate is awesome. The limiting factor was the time it took to cultivate the trees and shit.
>>529565
At least according to the Bible, David's bride price for Saul's daughter Michal was a bag of foreskins.
>>533447
You have to cook them well else they are rubbery. A low heat for about 38 minutes should do it.
>>532632
Oh, well no one who counts, then.
Seriously. His argument hinges on the idea that barter never existed. Go read a real fucking book and not agitprop.
>>534686
Graebers idea is that barter post-dates market conceptions of cash money exchange rather than pre-dating it.
Fucksake.
>>530606
>reducing welfare programs isn't the answer
It's the actually the right answer.
>>530606
>Where is the money going to come from if not taxes
Dunno, economic activity you leftard?
