The Almighty Semi-Ripped Piece of Paper
Since the early days of mankind, humans have traded precious items and commodities for other commodities and services. These items could have ranged from small shells to large stones carved by man. But what made these items valuable was the agreement of the people that these items held value and were worth something. We call these things today money. Today money is a small piece of paper with a portrait of a dead man on it that was a written amount much higher than what that little green piece of paper is actually worth, but where does this value come from? To find out we must look back through the history of currency and monetary systems to figure out why people give objects, like the green crumpled piece of paper, value.
One of the earlier accounts of people using money were the people of the island of Yap. The people of this tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean created a monetary system with giant stone wheels called fei. The fei were created by man on an island 400 miles away from Yap, in which crews would have to take a small raft or kayak to this island and quarry the stone and shape it and then transport it back to their home . Once at home these stones where so large and heavy, some of them stayed in place. However everyone knew who owned what fei and who held all the wealth on the island. The stones never moved but the transfer of wealth still occurred. A much similar event happened in the 1930’s between America and France. Due to the looming economic collapse in America, France asked the Federal Reserve to convert dollar assets that it had in the U.S into gold (Friedman). The only thing the Federal Reserve did was take some of the gold, put it in some drawers, and labeled that this gold belongs to France. The U.S gold reserves went down and France’s went up. There was never a physical transfer of gold to France yet people knew and understood that the gold now belongs to France. Today we now have our own drawer of gold called the Bitcoin. The Bitcoin is a digital currency with no central bank and its value is determined by whomever is willing to pay for the bitcoin. As of today 9/13/2016, one Bitcoin is worth 609.10 USD. While once again there is no actual coin the bitcoin is an idea that people have agreed on that holds value, same as the US dollar. in actuality the paper the dollar isn’t even worth the amount printed on it’s face yet people accept and agree that the piece of paper that cost 5.7 cents to make is worth 100 dollars.
Money is nothing more than an idea that people agree upon that regulates the flow of an economy and gives value to commodities and labor. That little green piece of paper in your pocket holds no actual value other than the cost it took to produce it, and yet you will work your whole life just to acquire more of those little green pieces of paper just so you can take them and stick them in a bank. Some people don’t even use physical money anymore and now rely on a electronic pulse sent through a computer to tell them that they have the money in the bank. So just remember the next time you read a bank statement or look at dollar bill that you’re holding an made up value that someone decided to make up. As crazy as it all sounds, that idea has been one of the most important creations in mankind by revolutionizing trade. Just think you could still be having to trade with goods like livestock and produce
WORKS CITED
Friedman, Milton. “The Island of Stone Money.” The Island of Stone Money(1991): 3-7. Web. 13 Sept. 2016.
“The Invention of Stone Money.” 423: The Invention of Stone Money. This Is American Life, WBEZ. Chicago . 7 Jan. 2011. 13 Sept. 2016
Renaut, Anne . “The bubble bursts on e-currency Bitcoin.” Yahoo.com. 13 Apr. 2013. 13 Sept. 2016.
Rowan Counterintuitive 
This looks substantially different from your A01 Stone Money post, CelticPiney. Let’s see how much you’ve improved on your first effort.
As you know, you’ll receive initial grades in four grading criteria: Argument, Rhetoric, Mechanics, Scholarship (ARMS). Grades can always be improved by revision. To understand your grades, you need to know your Grade Code, which I shared with you in class MON SEP 19. I’ve numbered your paragraphs for easy identification. The Writing Center offers free peer-to-peer writing instruction appointments to suit your schedule. And additional feedback is always available from me upon request.
Argument (Grade J)
Unlike the majority of your classmates, CelticPiney, you have written a first paragraph that clearly states an arguable question. It’s not exactly a thesis statement because it doesn’t make a positive claim, but while the sentence itself is not beautifully phrased, it leaves little doubt about your intentions:
If you follow through with a thorough and well-supported essay explaining how money gets its value, this is a good introduction.
In your second paragraph, you “round the based” from first to second, to third and back home, but you’d be called out three times at least for failing to actually touch those bases, CelticPiney. You make several essential errors that can be corrected:
—You take for granted that your readers are familiar with the stories of the Yap, the French, and with Bitcoin. Or, at the very least, you are willing to trust your argument’s persuasiveness to the scant details you provide for context. I confess I would not understand your argument at all without having read the sources.
—You make false analogies in order to serve your argument. The story of France and the US gold reserves resembles the Yap and their stones in one way, but not in the way you suggest. You say the French demanded a conversion to a more stable commodity, but no such thing occurs on Yap.
—You say Bitcoin is similar to both, I guess, without specifying how except that its value is based on finding someone to accept it. But if Bitcoin is like any one fei, it would be that one at the bottom of the ocean nobody but its carvers ever saw. Fei in general were quite physical, monumentally so.
Your overall conclusion is that money is made up and that it has value only because . . . actually you never do say why it has value. You haven’t delivered on the one promise you made in your introduction, CelticPiney.
Rhetoric (Grade J)
For the most part you demonstrate an easy facility with language, CP. You take your ability for granted, it seems, so that sloppy sentences mingle with the well-made ones. But rhetoric is much more than good sentences. It’s a measure of how well your language (its tone, the balance of its logical sentences, the appeals it makes to our reason and our feelings) advances your argument. My blunt assessment is that you appear to be racing around the bases to get home as quickly as possible, trusting to speed alone to make you safe. For me, it’s not working. You need to show more scholarship, an argument that guides readers step by step, and the patience to provide readers with the background we need to follow your logic.
Mechanics(Grade: FFG Fails for Grammar)
By and large you write correct sentences, but some of your errors violate the basic rules and therefore force a temporary failing grade. You can and should correct them so I can judge the rest of the work with a real grade.
—Subject/verb disagreement in number
—Not an FFG error but certainly in need of correction: “The fei were created by man on an island 400 miles away from Yap, in which crews would have to take a small raft or kayak to this island . . . . ”
—its/it’s
—Two cases of using the present tense to describe past events (in the same episode).
—More than one instance of the Banned Second Person.
Scholarship (Temporary Fail)
—Your Works Cited looks mechanically correct, but it lists three bibliographic items while you’ve cited only one. That’s an error. WC is for works you’ve cited only.
—Also, the one citation you did make uses the wrong technique for this class. I’ve demonstrated this several times and devoted class time to it again on Monday. An appropriate citation to replace yours would look like this:
OVERALL
Take heart, CelticPiney. Your current grade is a reflection of how this work would be graded if it were submitted as part of your Portfolio. Many of the fixes are easy. The Argument and Rhetoric fixes are more global, but they’re closely related. Your Rhetoric will improve automatically when you settle on a coherent argument. The semester is young and help is available. Every post can be endlessly revised. I will meet with you any MON or WED in personal conferences and provide continuous feedback in and out of class. The Writing Center offers free peer-to-peer counseling by appointment to meet your schedule. You may request a grade update in the Reply field for this post, but only after you’ve made substantial changes to your entire essay (not merely corrected the grammar and mechanics).
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