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You Can't Eat Money Anymore

You Can't Eat Money Anymore

OCT 95

By Wayne Hanson
Editor
A long time ago, money changed from useful things - like sheep and chickens
- that could be eaten, to less useful things like gold and silver, that
represented useful things that could be eaten. Then money changed into
currency and coins - which were not made of gold or silver, could not be
eaten and were not even particularly shiny. But they could be put in a
leather wallet or purse, and so we were happy. And at least dollars smelled
good and coins made a great clinking sound.
But we needed the government to tell us how much our money was worth. So
the government put numbers on the pieces of paper and coins, and pictures
of former presidents so we would show some respect. But the Federal Reserve
could print more money if it wanted to, so coffee rose from 10
Wayne E. Hanson served as a writer and editor with e.Republic from 1989 to 2013, having worked for several business units including Government Technology magazine, the Center for Digital Government, Governing, and Digital Communities. Hanson was a juror from 1999 to 2004 with the Stockholm Challenge and Global Junior Challenge competitions in information technology and education.