Ascent of Money Part 1

Eleanor Carter
David Roddy
GPHC 
April 7, 2020
Part 1: The Ascent of Money

Looking at money over all of human history's past, we are able to see the common thread that has intertwined all of it: money. This may have come in some form or another, through trading, to paper bills, but it has always been about the gaining of something that you want in exchange for something else. We live in a materialistic world, governed by consumers and producers and the money that is exchanged in those transactions. So much of the way we interact with currency now is based on trust in someone else with the introduction of credit into the system. We look at the behavior of someone and think that we may or may not trust them with our money. You are much more likely to trust a man in a suit who speaks confidently than a man on the street who you just met wearing jeans and a dirty t-shirt. I think this may also depend on location. In the video Memphis was mentioned as being a central part of the American bond market. This might affect how a broker, banker, or bond seller might interact with their customer, compared to if they were selling bonds out of a River Oaks shopping mall. I think that the overarching idea of this video was that people will always want for more. It's what created money in the first place, and it's what keep the bond market thriving today. We have established a system based on the wants of others, based on the trust of credit, and the hope for more. Looking at economic downfalls we are able to see what happened in the Great Depression and in the 2008 Economic Crisis, and even what is happening now in the world of Corona. People are scared because they feel like their money and their assets aren't protected, and the trust built between citizens, banks, and the government is being compromised because of it. 

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