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10
Why is Money Trusted?
As we have seen, money is something that has been endowed with value by the agreement
of a community, and in order to stay in use it must continue to be endowed with that value.
A Martian coming to Earth might not understand that when people exchange red paper
notes these represent a different amount than blue notes; it is simply the agreement of the
community that endows each note with its relative value, and money could not exist
without the community. But money is not real wealth; it is only a promise to redeem it for
real goods and services. It is therefore a credit instrument, or an IOU. Possession of money
gives the possessor power to acquire food, clothing or whatever is desired.
At a fundraising function to launch the Toronto dollar scheme in June 1999 (see
Chapter 10), author Margaret Atwood eloquently described the symbolism and limitations
of money:
Art has to do with symbolism – the human tendency to make one thing stand for another – and
money is the most deeply symbolic thing there is. Money as such is, as Oscar Wilde said, perfectly
useless. You can‘t eat it, drink it, shelter yourself from the cold with it, wear it, or make love with it
unless deeply disturbed. In and of itself, it has no emotions, no mind, and no conscience. It doesn‘t
put out flowers or have children, and it makes a lousy pet. It has meaning only when it circulates,
and is exchanged for other things; and money doesn‘t do that for itself. People do that, using money
as a symbolic token. 8
But the process of endowing a symbolic token with value is always rather fragile. When we