 Last time on Common Sense Soapbox! Bob to the future! No deal! Money is evil! I'm gonna barter this meat for the stuff I need! We solved this problem thousands of years ago! We did! Yes! With the invention of money! And now for the next exciting installment of Common Sense Soapbox! Bob to the future! Ah, cold cruel world! What kind of horrible future still uses money? Look, I know you think money is evil, but having widely agreed upon medium of exchange is absolutely necessary in order for a complex society to function. Explain! If people use money for at least one side of every trade, everything gets easier. We're no longer restricted by the double coincidence of wants. Plus, money would hold its value a lot better than that. You take that back! We'll see if it increases in value. All right, fine. But it's not like money's so great, in my time we had inflation every year! Well, that's back when governments were in charge of the money supply. Well, duh, they were in charge. The government invented money. What was that? Oh, I've programmed my risk computer to tell you when you're wrong, so I don't lose my voice. Currency evolved organically, from using shells and animal skins as a medium of exchange to the first commodity money made of bronze thousands of years ago. Most of this was a product of people just trying to make trade easier. Okay, but what does that have to do with inflation? Supply and demand affects money too. When there's a lot more money floating around, it loses a little bit of its value. And sometimes governments think printing a ton of new money is a good way to pay for stuff they can't afford. Can't afford? Well, yeah, if you spent all your income and then borrowed as much money as anyone else was willing to loan you, and then you spent all of that, at some point you'd probably have to accept the fact that you just need to spend less. You couldn't just print new money for yourself. That would be counter-fitting! Yep, but governments can print as much money as they want. And when they abuse that power so they can pay for expensive programs or wars, really bad things happen to their economies. Oh, maybe this isn't such a good idea. Sure isn't, but we don't do that anymore. You, anything else you want me to know about money? Oh yeah, one more really important thing. Alright! Money is how we measure economic value. Prices, profits, and losses are actually signals that tell us a lot of really useful information about what people want or don't want. And that information is how we coordinate all kinds of economic behavior across our whole society. And then, when nobody's willing to buy what you're trying to sell, well... Ah, you're right. What are you doing? Making the best of a bad situation. Sir, excuse me. Is that... is that ripened meat? Ah, you've let it age just the perfect amount. I'll give you 50 credits for it. Um, what? 100! No, 150! I must have it! Ugh! I'm not looking for money! And I'm looking for tools to start my new business with! Why doesn't anyone understand that? But good sir. You can use the money I will pay you to purchase whatever you want. Including the technology you need for your invention. Huh? Why didn't anyone explain that earlier? You've got a deal. Looks like Bob's finally got a little mover to start his own business with. What will he come up with? Tune in for the last few episodes of Common Sense Soapbox! Bob to the future!