The money trail

CEBU, Philippines – The way the ordinary modern man handles matters of money seems to have lost semblance of the simplistic reason for this necessary invention. The reason, obviously, is commerce. Long before they were able to write, according to Amielle Lake, Andrew Kakabadse and Nada Kakabadse in their book "The Elephant Hunters," humans

already understood the powerful mechanisms of trade to meet and, later, embellish their needs.

The known history of human survival stretches back 150,000 years. It has consistently developed and proceeded in elaborate periods as people discover time and again an intimate connection between their basic needs and commerce. The relationship between humans and commerce is symbiotic.

Commerce synchronizes its evolution to the rhythm of human development. It's interesting to note that as people's needs expand and become increasingly complex, so do their commercial interactions. The creativity that humans have displayed in this area of living is incredible.

Lake and the Kakabadses note that "during the Stone Age, we sought to meet our need for food, clothing, shelter and enjoyment through trading flint and obsidian. We were hunters then, but we were also gamblers." They state further that people's earliest commercial interactions involved bartering, gift giving and hedging risks on instinct.

As people discovered new regions of the world, made contact with new populations, and learned new things, new or expanded needs and consequently new methods to fulfill these needs resulted. The more they interacted, the more they came to realize how different they could be from one another. They began thinking up ways to meet each other's needs.

"Barter became inefficient," Lake and the Kakabadses point out, "because it was difficult to find a coincidence of needs among traders. Some people had things others did not. Some had nicer things. Some people were more productive, more imaginative, more efficient, better at producing and had better access to resources. Few could agree on what was necessary and what was frivolous." Perhaps what some thought to be luxury the others deemed necessities.

It is not difficult to figure that out. Even today, the same situation holds. One may have something he does not really need and will want to exchange it with something more necessary from others. And then many things not necessary became things nice to have.

The wealth gap began to emerge. The human competition for a crown of ultimate irrational extravagance started very early on. "Regardless of time or geography, man's existence has always been marked by his urge to obtain what he does not have."

As the linkages among regions of the world improved in leaps and bounds, so did commercial activities. The mass movement of goods, people and capital blurred national boundaries as trading further accelerated. And something more suitable as the medium of exchange was needed, something that did not require a coincidence of needs between traders.

Commercial transactions departed from simple bartering.  "Moreover, no agreement was necessary to confirm that the needs be of equal value before a transaction could occur. Rather, everyone agreed on the value of money and then argued over the value of their purchases. Commodities in the form of gold, rum, barley and the like made up the first kind of money. Each held an intrinsic value that encouraged honorable transactions."

But commodity money was too bulky and too difficult to transport. And so, "money turned into money describing money." The transacted values became "simple markings on a piece of worthless paper." It was light and easy to carry around - an ideal response to the call of the heightening commercial times.

Money had since undergone many transformations and modifications still across the centuries - until it would become even more worthless and lightweight. "Money did become invisible: electric at first and then nothing. The information age brought with it widespread credit card systems and automated teller machines, then digital payment systems, online trading and more. Today money is for the most part a mere dialect used only between computers."

These days, electronic money transactions occur by the millions every microsecond. It only takes that mind-boggling bit of time for an electronic current to race up and down a series of fibre-optic cables. "All over the world, people are entering into transactions of all shapes and sizes, amassing and losing money that is essentially invisible!"

With their easy, modern jobs, people now make more money in much less time, with much less effort. And so, naturally, they also lose mindful awareness of the true value of their earnings. The prevailing situation when it comes to money is - easy come, easy go.