Money

Money is any marketable good or token used by a society as a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account. Since the needs arise naturally, societies organically create a money object when none exists. In other cases, a central authority creates a money object; this is more frequently the case in modern societies with paper money.

Private currencies

In many countries, the issue of private paper currencies has been severely restricted by law.

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In the United States, the Free Banking Era lasted between 1837 and 1866, during which almost anyone could issue their own paper money. States, municipalities, private banks, railroad and construction companies, stores, restaurants, churches and individuals printed an estimated 8,000 different monies by 1860. If the issuer went bankrupt, closed, left town, or otherwise went out of business the note would be worthless. Such organizations earned the nickname of "wildcat banks" for a reputation of unreliability and that they were often situated in far-off, unpopulated locales that were said to be more apt to wildcats than people. On the other hand, according to Lawrence H. White's article in

Related Topics:
United States - Free Banking Era

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FEE "it turns out that “wildcat” banking is largely a myth. Although stories about crooked banking practices are entertaining—and for that reason have been repeated endlessly by textbooks—modern economic historians have found that there were in fact very few banks that fit any reasonable definition of wildcat bank." The National Bank Act of 1863 ended the "wildcat bank" period.

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In Australia, the Notes Act of 1910 basically shut down the circulation of private currencies by imposing a prohibitive tax on the practice. Many other nations have similar such policies that eliminate private sector competition. In Scotland and Northern Ireland private sector banks are licensed to print their own paper money by the government.

Related Topics:
Australia - Scotland - Northern Ireland

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Today there are several privately issued digital currencies in circulation that function as money. Transactions in these currencies represent an annual turnover value in billions of US dollars. Many of these private currencies are backed by older forms of money such as gold (digital gold currencies). Of course, because money is the fruit of power and can be used for wielding or gaining more power, the one who accepts gold as legitimate money gives power to the people who own gold's stocks. In the other hand gold is stable over thousands of years and has survived the test of time. All the other materials have become less important as gold has proved itself the superior unit of account. Basically, price fluctuations of gold are not because the value of gold has changed, but because the value of the currency has changed. The same happens with some other materials, like food or energy or transport or accommodation. A plate of food has always the same value, whatever its price is.

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It is possible for privately issued money to be backed by any other material, although some people argue about perishables materials. After all, gold, or platinum, or silver, have in some regards less utility than previously (their electrical properties notwithstanding), while currency backed by energy (measured in joules) or by transport (measured in kilogramme*kilometre/hour) or by food http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3503641 is also possible and may be accepted by the people, if legalised. It is important to understand though that, as long as money is above all an agreement to use something as a medium of exchange, its up to the community (or to the minority which holds the power) to decide whether money should be backed by whatever material or should be totally virtual.

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