The insufferable shoptalk around the subject of economics causes us to tune out. Once the jargon, sophistries, and linguistic posturing are swept aside however, the subject becomes fascinating. To understand monetary issues is to understand the essence of private ownership and freedom. Manipulation by governments, usually working in tandem with central bankers, of our monetary supply is the primary cause of systemic poverty and social dislocation. First some definitions.
Money has three properties.
It is a means of exchange, a measure of value, and an instrument of savings. As a means of exchange, we exchange a mutually agreeable abstract commodity, money, which has been anything from beads, seashells, tobacco or tally sticks to the internationally accepted standard of gold and silver. Money enables us to conduct commerce and trade without bartering our services. Primitive societies figured out the importance of money as an abstract means of exchange. Sound money, accepted by society as honest and standardized, is the basic building block of civilization.