Funny quotes from text books...

[Jeff]

I found a funny one today, just thought I'd share it. Anyone else see funny stuff like this?

"What is Fiat Money?
A. Money with no intrinsic value
B. Money with intrinsic value in its self
C. Money used in France"

[Ginger]

The whole question is funny - no money has intrinsic value. To be such would imply that there is something IN the money that is omnipotently decreed valuable. Money is just a medium.

Anyways, it's still funny. I just needed to be a smartass for a bit.

[CaptainHenreh]

The whole question is funny - no money has intrinsic value. To be such would imply that there is something IN the money that is omnipotently decreed valuable. Money is just a medium.

Anyways, it's still funny. I just needed to be a smartass for a bit.

What about Gold? Gold has a value, and was once used as money. It has an intristic value, and could be construed as more than just a medium.

[Ginger]

Lets say you have a chunk of gold. You've got gold, but it's cold out, and you're a poor American that lives in a tent. This tent happens to be in your former best friend's brothers backyard, but that's besides the point. The point is, you need a blanket. The only folks that have blankets in the area are aborigonal. They don't deal in gold. They deal in corn. All of a sudden, your gold has no value, not to them, at least.

If Gold were to have an intrinsic value, you could show it to anybody in the world and they would recognize it as valuabe. Our aborigonals recognize it as rare, but still don't trade in it. Our perception of it's value isn't because there's something in it that is valuable - it's because of it's scarcity. If there was as much gold as water, and as little water as gold, then their "values" would be different.

Value is in the mind, entirely.

Economists struggled with value for a long time. Each new generation of economists would struggle with value - one set introducting the production value added model, and one introducing "just price" - so on and so forth. For the longest time, though, nobody could answer the water and diamonds paradox:

Nothing in the world is so scare as a diamond, and nothing more abundant than water. But in the desert a diamond will buy you scarce anything.

The answer is, of course, the value of a diamond isn't dictated - it's relative. Value is on the margin, as economists say. It's in your mind, and dependent on your situation.


I think I've strayed from the original point quite a bit. To reanswer.. Yes, gold is widely accepted as valuable, but if you exam why we value, you see that there is nothing intrinsic IN gold that is valuable.

[CaptainHenreh]

Fair enough, but rarity cannot alone be a factor in value. Gold is widely accepted as valuble, and moreso than other things it is accepted as value.

By your example, we should all be bartering for things we need with things we have and skip the use of mediums altogether, because the mediums themselves have no value.

I'll concede paper money, as it has very little intristic value, but I'll argue that gold does have an intristic value. Be it as a conductor of electricity or raw materials for art, it does have a value. That value is not set, but your aboriginal example is pretty extreme. In those circumstances nothing has value BUT corn. Why does the corn have value?

[Myuki]

cause you can eat it??

value can only be judged on how much a person wants it....to some people some things would have more value than other things or even the same thing.

it doesn't matter what it is...if no one saw gold as being valuable, money would have no backing. which is funny, cause there is more money dollars, then gold to back it up, so money just becomes a big promise/lie to the other guy.....

[Evan]

ah....the philosophy of economics.

if you keep going, eventually you will overthink life to the extent that everything is nothing more than a inconcrete idea with no real value: language, math, what you see an touch, its all just vauge representations interpreted by an imperfect brain
enter the matrix

in any philosophical discussion, its important to not degrade to a talk of semantics and language, and make sure to keep grounded in at least some sort of reality, because when it comes down to it, anyone can make the case that anything is intrinsic, no value, just an idea, etc.

[JessicaRabbit79]

Wow... Chris, I bet you never thought that your thread about funny s**t in textbooks would turn into a philosophical discussion.

Ah, the diversity of MM...

[CaptainHenreh]

Wow... Chris, I bet you never thought that your thread about funny s**t in textbooks would turn into a philosophical discussion.

Ah, the diversity of MM...

Wasn't Chris. A unique avatar policy should be enacted and strictly enforced.

[JessicaRabbit79]

Sheeet... you're right. And, I agree.

Wow. I'm tired. And, I assumed. See what that gets us???

Wheeee!

[Jeff]

Bite me, the Avatar thing wouldn't load my picture so I took his. I try every once in awhile and it still never takes it. THAT is the problem that should be addressed.

[Feersty]

Remember you can't upload, it has to be on the web somewhere with a URL, the upload from computer option doesnt work. and it also has to be small as hell

[WRXtranceformed]

And God made the 80 x 80 avatar.

And there was a wailing and a gnashing of teeth.

[Chris]

Bite me, the Avatar thing wouldn't load my picture so I took his. I try every once in awhile and it still never takes it. THAT is the problem that should be addressed.

I haven't used the MM one lately bc I was trying to upload a new one, but it won't work. Computers kill me sometimes.

[Mike]

since the dawn of this message board you haven't been able to upload an avatar from your machine, this is known... as as been said above, you need to upload from a url.

[Jeff]

Thanks God, I'll remember that next time

[bassmangrammy]

Seriously...it's fucking econ!!!!!! I'm in the class with TurboOmni and I'm glad that he's making fun of her and the book because they both suck giant nuts!