An Obituary For Bitcoin?

"Bitcoin’s future is looking grim. If Bitcoin crashes, will that lead to the end of crypto currency? Richard Wolff joins Thom Hartmann for an update on the future of Bitcoin."

Click on the link below for a 10-minute video not only discussing bitcoin but also clarifying what money really is:

Is Bitcoin Even Money?

The History Of Money In The USA

"What has money meant in American society? On this episode of Now & Then, 'The Culture of Cash,' Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman look at the culture of American currency & capital. They examine attempts in the early republic to create a viable national coinage system, the introduction of greenbacks during the Civil War, the success of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1933 bank holiday, and the songs and films that defined national conversations about money in the 20th century. How do systems of exchange reflect national values? How can different currencies highlight or spur political change? And how can past money debates help to contextualize the current battles over Bitcoin and cryptocurrency?"

Click on the link below for the podcast:

The Culture of Cash

What Is Money?

As humans evolved and began trading items with each other to complement what they could obtain and produce alone, the barter system was born. This evolved into the development of other items representing wealth that could be held and traded, with gold and silver becoming a major means of such. Gold and silver remained a predominant universal material to hold and trade regarding material wealth until around the 18th century.  Money continued to evolve with the printing of paper and minting of coins to represent gold and silver. In the USA, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 confiscated private gold and suspended the gold standard to allow the printing of money to fight the effects of the Great Depression. In 1971 under President Richard M Nixon, paper money became free from backing by gold (fiat money). Essentially, all paper money in the world today is this fiat money. 

Is this present system of money/currency good or bad. Since economics is one discipline in which honest people can disagree, there is much discussion of the matter. Click on the links below for a wide perspective on the subject:

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