What is Money?

The world as environment: Individuals see themselves as a singular interior element surrounded by an all-encompassing exterior. And so it is that monetized individuals regard the world as a mere externality, as if they themselves would not belong to it.

Society: Every person must do something for others in order to get money. But he doesn’t exert himself for them because he knows them, and they don’t pay him money because they want to contribute to his livelihood; rather, everyone seeks of coming into money.

Individual: Money benchmarks everyone as an individual owner of money, and it positions this individual within the anonymous universe of all other money owners. This abstract reference forms a distinct instance of the “I” as a conceptually pure form of self.

The State: No coin, no bill, no number on an account can force anyone to use them as money. It is governments that impose and maintain this compulsion. The states themselves depend on money, and want as much of it as possible to be generated in their own currency.

Command: All over the world people are compelled to sell something in order to get money that they need for living. Basically what most people have to sell is their labour. Those who buy with money appropriate control over the work of the others.

Property: There are inclusive and exclusive forms of ownership. Our money imposes a private ownership that rigorously excludes everyone from everything they haven’t paid money for.

Rich and Poor: More money, more prosperity for all: This promise is not being fulfilled. As time goes by, the poor grow poorer and the rich richer. Money’s continuing usage is based on its function as capital: the more money that’s invested, the more it can yield.

Growth: In a society where people depend primarily on money for their livelihoods, they have to get more money for what they do than they expend on doing it. This necessity alone drives the inexorable compulsion of money to become more money.

Growth: In a society where people depend primarily on money for their livelihoods, they have to get more money for what they do than they expend on doing it. This necessity alone drives the inexorable compulsion of money to become more money.

Digital Money: From the moment a society bases its economy on money, the value of money no longer needs its substance. Money’s value comes from the fact that it can be exchanged to purchase goods of the same value. Monetary value consists solely in this function.