What is Money?

Listening Fluency #74

What is money? Some people think of money as cash or credit cards. Other people
describe it more abstractly as freedom. One famous English expression says,
Money is the root of all evil. We all want it and we need it to survive, but what is
it really?
Everyone knows that we need money to buy and sell things, but it wasnt always
necessary. Before the creation of money, people traded for what they wanted. If
you had apples, but wanted beef, you found another farmer who had cows and tried
to exchange the meat for your fruit. Of course, this wasnt efficient. If the cattle
farmer didnt want apples, you couldnt easily get what you wanted.
In order to make exchanging things easier, people needed something else of value
that they could use to buy and sell things. Different cultures used different things
such as corn, stones, beans, shells and even salt. Anything that was durable, could
be easily divided, and everyone recognized as having value could be used as
money. For a long time, many cultures used gold and silver as money. Being
durable, easily made into coins, and rare, everyone agreed that it was valuable.
Today we use pieces of paper and electronic numbers in our bank accounts as
money. These things have zero intrinsic value. We cant eat the paper or use the
numbers in the bank to keep us warm, but everyone believes they have value, so
we can use them to buy food, clothes or whatever we want.
Some people think that money is necessary for a society to grow, but one of the
bigger cultures of the 15th and 16th century survived without any form of money.
The Incan empire stretched through much of South America, including parts of
modern day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. At
its height, it had a population of 12 million and was incredibly rich in textiles, food
and gold. They had complex agriculture and were master builders of cities,
pyramids and highways. Amazingly, they did it all without any form of money.
In Incan society, the government provided everything from clothes to food and all
the necessities of life. In exchange for these things, everyone including city
planners, soldiers and farmers worked for the government.
In the modern world, a society without money wouldnt be able to compete with
other societies, but its interesting to think back on a simpler time. What about
you? Do you think you could live without money?
How would you finish this sentence, Money is___________.
Expressions and Vocabulary
Abstract Existing as an idea, but not a concrete thing
Intrinsic Natural or essential
Money is the root of all evil Greed is the source of all bad things