Money is a funny subject. The concept of money is even funnier. When I say funny I mean that there are a lot of questions dealing with the monetary system we use as Americans today. Most of us have bank accounts that we can just see a number on an account statement on our phone, computer, or a physical piece of paper and know we have that much money. The question concerning money is, Where is that money that the bank says we have? We can use it at our own will and we know its there, but we can’t actually see the currency in front of us. Before reading and listening about Stone Money, the Brazilian real, and the other articles about other currency I understood how banks worked but never really took my time to try to figure out why we use the system we use today.
To understand the monetary system in use today we have to look at the history of money. The first upbringing of a monetary system dated back all the way to the start of civilization and it was the bartering system. Whether people traded food for clothes or cattle for water, people used items as currency and everyone knew for example how many chickens you need for a cow. NOVA, the most watched science television program in America, published a timeline of money. On their timeline the first monetary system that resembled our current one has been dated all the way back to 1200 BC. The Ancient Chinese used cowrie shells as currency. Cowrie shells is the oldest currency in human history. The Planet Money Team for NPR did a report on the islanders of Yap, a Caroline Island in Micronesia. The report talks about the people of the island Yap and their currency known as “fei”. Their currency was made out of huge limestones, nicked named Stone Money, and brought from islands hundreds of miles away. These pieces were so big that once they were brought back to the island it was put in the middle of the village or on a path and left there. On Yap the islanders did not have to physically posses the fei for it to be theirs. It was common to have engraving on said stone to show who owned it at this time. There is even a legend regarding the largest fei sculpted. Friedman explains this legend in her essay, “The Island of Stone Money”. It is believed that a boat load of islanders set sale to an island some humdred miles away. Once at this island they sculpted the fei and loaded it on a raft and headed back to Yap. On their return they ran into a bad storm and had to let the fei go and it sank to the bottom of the sea. When the sculptors returned to Yap they recalled their experiences and the islanders were okay with the fei being at the bottom of the sea because they knew its worth and everyone knew who it belonged to. So that means generations after the sculpting of the original fei people have never seen it but at the same time know that the family is the wealthiest family of Yap.
In 2016 technology changes every day. One can buy something on Tuesday and by Friday there is a better model that is faster or has more storage than the previous, Technology is growing at a exponential rate. There is now an app called Venmo that is very popular in the college atmosphere. This app is a social network where people can pay and request money to and from their friends. Venmo was created through PayPal, Inc. and now has well over one million downloads. A lot of college students use Venmo to split bills with friends and roommates. You do not have to put a single penny into the app but you can receive any amount of money from friends. From their you have a balance in which you can pay bills or send others money. You never have to physically posses the money but you know its there and you can use it however you see fit. This is exactly how the Islanders of Yap used their fei and it is very interesting how things can be the same after a hundred years.
After it is all said and done my opinion on money has broadened. It didn’t change because I knew how electronic money works along with banks, and I also had a brief knowledge of the history of money beforehand. I say broadened because after reading about the fei and the island of Yap I started to think more and more about the monetary system we use today. As Ira Glass explains in her broadcast you can put money in a bank, that money then gets loaned out to a person starting a business. So now, this person has your money but you can still buy things with it. Even after this person purchases something with your money, your money did not go anywhere. I never stepped back and looked at this scenario like that before and reading about money and the issues money caused in different countries, such as France, Brazil and Germany, allowed my opinion to broaden and learn how to accept how “funny” the concept of money really is.
Works Cited
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/history-money.html
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/the-invention-of-money
https://counterintuitive2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/stonemoneyessay.pdf
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.venmo&hl=en
Rowan Counterintuitive 
EDIT OF PARAGRAPH 1
There are a lot of questions dealing with the monetary system we use as Americans today.
Americans as well as other nations have a vast range of opinions on the concept of money. Americans have their opinions on foreign money, and people from other nations have their own specific opinions on the American dollar.
Why will people in other countries take American dollars, but not American coins? They both have the same monetary value, but people in other countries favor the dollar over coins. A dollar bill, four quarters, ten dimes, twenty nickels, and one hundred pennies means the same thing to an American, it all adds up to a $1.00. When looked at from a foreign person’s point of view the coins have less value than the single dollar bill.
Most Americans have personal bank accounts and the bank sends statements at pre-disclosed time intervals to each member. These statements can be viewed on a computer, smart phone, or even on a physical piece of paper mailed to you from the bank. On the statement there is the bank members name, address and account information. One can see the history of your withdraws, deposits and transfers. One can also see how much money they have spent over the time period, and how much more they have saved for whatever reason/s.
A very popular question concerning the American banks is, “Where is the money that the bank says one has?”. The bank acknowledges the fact that the money is owned by a specific person. That person can use their money at their own will, but can’t see that money that they’re using.
Before reading and listening about “Stone Money”, the Brazilian real, and other forms of currency from other nations I understood the basic concepts of how American banks worked. I never really took my time to try to figure out why Americans use the system they use today and how the banks work . Reading about these topics and doing this research has led to many questions stated above as well as many answers.
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You’ve worked a lot of details into your E02 Cows and Chips Exercise, Saints.
This detail Fails for Grammar: “Where is the money that the bank says one has?”.
Do you know why, and how to fix it?
Coded Grade: F but Fails For Grammar
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