Is it normal to think that money..

money just makes trading easier. like if a guy (jeff) needs a cow, and the guy (kev) that has the cow needs 4 pigs but jeff hasnt got 4 pigs to give him, then jeff gives kev a VOUCHER which represents the same value as 1 cow or 4 pigs. kev gives jeff the cow and takes the voucher. now he can go to the pig man and exchange the voucher for 4 pigs. THEN the pigman can go to jeff and exchange the voucher for 2 months worth of milk from the cow. this is how the world works. In reality money is no longer backed by gold at all. money is backed by.......... nothing. the government of a country declares "money" as Legal Tender. this legal tender only has the value that the government applies to it. anyway who cares how it works. the point is that society obviously works better with money than without. its not like we have had money since the dawn of time.... they tried it without money for many years and they got by. but the introduction of money just made it so much simpler to trade with people. initially, yes, people used valueable metals. but what use is gold now? who wants a block of gold over a suitcase full of money? if you had a block of gold what would you do? you would sell it for a suitcase full of money...

Ive been thinking about this exact kind of story since second grade. How could a piece of paper or a metal trinket be so powerful?

Money: creates more problems than the problems it solves.

There is a way, it's called marxism.

Fuck money! learn to trade, grow food, forage for food, hunt, fish, trap, squat, and leather tramp it...

Money is pointless. I can't wait for the economy to collapse. Then, only the smart and skilled would survive.

Yes I need money because I'm not sure if I enter an Apple Store with a couple of sheep and a sack of wheat I'll go out with an iPad.

watch zeitgeist stuff i think ul like it, also loose change documentaries, monertary system isnt needed at all or fractional reserve banking it all so corperation can run world and have power, the federal reserve is private run lol

it's dirty and imaginary. especially those billions and trillions the government talks about, that money isn't backed by goods or silver. a silver or gold standard make more since but i'm really not interested in them either. i can't eat it or fuck it and it doesn't keep me warm or dry. it's meant to enslave us, ever since people started to lock up food. check out daniel quinn's books, they talk a lot about that. the books are about a telepathic gorilla that teaches using the socratic method, and it will blow your mind in the good way. read "my ishmael". i don't talk about money unless it's necessary, the same way i don't talk about work when i'm not there. i don't like to talk about money when i'm tripping either. but seriously, nomads worked 4-6 hours a day, and it was communal/survival oriented work. we work 40 plus and barely have enough to survive, and we never really build anything useful. check out a developing nation or move out in rural united states if you have the balls. the only shitty thing is that you basically need money first unless you are alright with being homeless.

I think that you are right. It sucks that money has to run and control everything.

We'll always need money, or something like it. There needs to be a material benefit to people who excel in their field, be it business, sport or art, or anything else for that matter.

One option for the near(ish) future is a dual method, where basic goods and services are free (provided you're prepared to be 'in the system' - and there would be maximum allowances, etc) - But to obtain luxury goods or services, you'd have to spend some money.

Money is trading..
The whole monetary system is outdated. Money used to be fine and valid but the monetary systems of today are excessive.
Money is not the root of all evil, greed is...money was just an innocent bystander. It was useful when simply transporting goods wasn't so simple. A temporary solution nonetheless. Now with technology where it is...money isn't needed, yet kept in play by those in power. Walmart, major banks and major gas companies in america alone, own (since i dont feel like looking it up im going to make a generous underestimation) 50% of the countries money. Meaning the few Hundred men in charge at Walmart, Bank of America, and Exxon have more money (and consequently more power) than 95% [another generous estimate; correct my numbers please if im off by much] of american people. unfortunately these basics sayings are truths:
1. Money = power
2. Takes money to make money
which leads to the perpetual debt of America and its people. Everytime the U.S. "borrows" money from the federal reserve, it has to pay it back using the money acquired from the fedral reserve, WITH INTEREST! Basically, the more money america has, the less money it has. To simplify it, for every $1 the us gets rom the federal reserve, the us owes the federal reserve $1.35 (no proportionally correct, just a representation of how its set up).
No matter what, we'll be in debt (as a country) and the people in power with money, will stay in power with money, and continue to makes rules/laws/exceptions that benefit people in power with money.
But within this f.cked up system, theres still that small chance in america that you can sporadically climb the economic ladder and have more than enough money which usually changes ones views and they become what they hated; mustering ways to keep on to the money they have, and use it to make more.
*shrug, it sucks but its life...life in america
[there was so much more as far as facts and figures i could/would include but this is only "IIN", i didnt want to make it bigger than it was lol]

The problem is:
Whoever profits from the system, got the power (money).
So who has power to change the system, (or stop others trying to) simply doesn't want to, because he gets the most money out of it.
So I guess we will never know.
But clearly logically, money is not necessary.

If living outside a monetary-based economy is possible for you then yes it is possible to live outside depending on a wage. It would constitute as a resource-based economy and living off grid. If you are truly interested, consider the Zeitgeist Movement.

@ jrphotographer
We can give paper a value because it is backed by gold, which we as a race have deemed valuable. One reason countries go through recessions and depressions is governments print more money than they can back by their gold. So they decrease the value of their currency.

It is possible, its called pure-communism, or socialism. It is extremely hard to have society live this way. No society has been able to live without a monetary system that was a republic, democracy, or a little of both. Money is a way to show universal value for an item, it allows people to actually know when they're making money. Think about it, if you sold a cow for 4 pigs, who got the better deal? With a cow you can make dairy and beef products. With a cow you can just make pork products. However, the person who got the pigs can most likely breed them, seeing as they have four, and chances suggest tat least one will be a gender different from the others. This is why money is important. Sorry for the lengthy answer.

Think of money as your contribution to society. The more you contribute the more you get and the less you do the less you get.