When Napoleon took control of France, he solved a bankrupt nation’s money problems. The most important thing he did was to stop borrowing for anything except that which reduced the cost of living. He built roads, bridges, telegraphs, and canals which made it cheaper to do things in France. That enriched the nation.
Today, nations are in serious trouble because they’ve been borrowing too much while not letting people be free to reduce costs. Within each country is a class of people who’ve become literally addicted to borrowed money. Unfortunately, they are so numerous and so organized that they just keep forcing their nations to borrow more. And, none of them are bright enough to invent ways to cut costs or self-confident enough to tolerate those who are.
No one can stop them. They listen, nod wisely, and keep on printing.
Amazingly, no one seems to care. The semi-Christian nations are waiting for a miracle that will allow them to keep on spending. Until that miracle happens, they’re going to keep on giving themselves money.
Money has been pretty much the same as long as there have been institutions that could say, “Og, rather than giving you six clams for a chicken, I’m giving you this piece of shiny metal. It’s easier to carry around.” While Og may have objected to that, when threatened with an arrow to the gizzard, he agreed. Eventually, the shiny piece of metal was replaced by a piece of paper, one among many with different numbers on them.
Early messages were sent by runners. That cost a lot. The horses and riders who replaced them were almost as expensive. Carrier pigeons and clipper ships weren’t that much better. Then, information began to be transmitted by semaphore, and then, more reliably, by telegraph.
Costs suddenly dropped. A few years later, telephones lowered costs even more. Now, computers send messages containing as much information as in all the world’s libraries for practically nothing, and do so every day. But, the transactions still have to be paid for by pieces of paper with numbers on them. Or, shiny pieces of metal.