this might be of interest.[snip]
The Color of Money - How Currency Works http://money.howstuffworks.com/currency.htm
When you hear the word "currency," you probably think of the stuff in your wallet. But currency is really a very complex, fascinating aspect of human civilization. Especially these days, the value of money is utterly arbitrary -- did you know that there is no currency left that is actually backed by gold?
Even better than gold or silver certificates (or the metal itself either in ingots of coins) may be objects that a person who is knowledgeable recognizes as having value.
I have heard from 2 persons whose fathers escaped going to the Nazi death camps by giving a soldier at the embarcation station their Patek Philippe wristwatch. It is something of a cliche that Rolex's are better than currency in places where the highways are watched over by highwaymen.
In better times, I remember when I was young and worked in an art museum, attending a party at the home of one of the curators. He surely earned less money than my father, but his home was filled with valuable art which he was able to acquire thru his superior knowledge and "connections", whereas my father's house was at about the level of "You'll love it at Levitt's" and everything he bought immediately lost value....
The savvy rich purchase tomorrow's "vintage" masterpieces and get use value out of them while they are appreciating in value; everybody else consumes consumer products (a bit perversely known as "goods"). This is as it should be in the Christian cosmos, since to those who have, more shall be given.
Cheers!
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
