Counterintuitivity

Currency is a unique concept to think about.  From fei, to dollars, to gold, it is a hard thing to really think about. People do not even most of the money they own they only see a piece of paper that has numbers on it and their name on it . People believe that they have as much money as their bank account says, but in reality they cannot spend their paychecks without cashing them in for dollar bills. My thinking has changed tremendously about money from reading about fei and about the Federal Reserve Bank transferred gold to the Bank in France.  That was basically like the Germans taking their money and putting their money on it, then when they got what they wanted which was the repaired money they took their names (the black cross marks) off of their money.  Same with the Federal Reserve Bank they just took their gold and put it in a drawer and labeled it “French”. This just blows my mind how that worked, I am kind of dumbfounded because that is how all money is, and people cannot do anything about it unless they have every single dollar out of your bank account in your possession, like in your closet or something. You have to trust in the bank that all your money is in their though, because your not going to see it, and it really is believing in what you cannot see.

The whole story of the monetary system of Yap, a little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, reminds me of some type of cartoon or fiction story. I find it very interesting, but not surreal at all after reading The Island of Stone Money. Coins are made out of metal, however, Yap  had access to stone instead which forced the island to use what they had. I have thought about what made the people on Yap leave the stone so big. The good thing is that this “fei” was only used for big things such as buying a house or something of that sort. When I found out that the people would leave their stone outside their house I thought the chances of someone stealing it. Besides the fact that the article let us know that “the coins remains undisturbed”, it would be entirely to much for anybody to try and steal it. Its easy to steal American money, its just a piece of paper which gives the coin that Yap used more value. Our money is so easy to steal, destroy, and misplace!

I would not be able to say I am rich and not see the money for myself. The story in this article takes wealth to another level. Imagine everybody telling you that your rich but you never saw the money from the day you stepped foot on earth. It would definitely be unreal to me, I would have to see it to believe it. I have faith in things I never seen, pertaining to the future not the past.

Whether paper or stone or shiny metal, all currencies serve the same purpose. When a society reaches a certain size and complexity, the need arises for “storage”of wealth. We store our wealth in green paper and account numbers, the Yap store theirs in giant stone discs. In a barter system without currency, there could be no established “market value” for an item, as each transaction would be an unique negotiation depending on what each party has to offer.

In my eyes, the Yap currency system is at least as sensible as that of the U.S. Think of the “money” in your checking account. How much of that “money” have you physically seen or touched? The only thing you really “own” is a number in a computer. I think I may feel more secure in my wealth if it were represented by some giant stone wheel, even if it were in my neighbor’s yard, at least I could still keep an eye on it. Also, consider the instability of the value of even the physical manifestation of the U.S. currency you may have in your pocket. The value of these green papers that we take for granted is really backed by nothing other than the good word of our government, who last time I checked owed over $10 Billion to China (whatever that number means). At least if my wealth were represented by stones, I could be pretty confident in its value. If I have a big stone, it will always be worth proportionately more than a small stone, but my $100 dollar bill is pretty much guaranteed to decrease in value over my lifetime.

The biggest issue with the U.S. currency system is that there is really no limit on how much money could be printed. In a gold standard system, the country’s gold reserves determine how much money they can print, thus keeping inflation in check and affirming the value of the money. Yap’s currency has a similar limitation; the stone from which it is made is not fond on the island, assuring that a person would need to accumulate enough real wealth to send workers to convert that wealth to currency. Whatever substance backs the currency is not important, as the substance only has value because it is significantly difficult to obtain and accepted by the society as the standard of value. It is the expense of obtaining the gold (or limestone) that affirms its value and assures that real wealth backs the currency.

The study of commerce could take up a semester’s-long course in it of itself, where from the philosophy of  money to the functionality of it serves to be examined.  Money cannot just be “created” and used, however; it must be influenced by the type of society in which it is being crafted for and how the government there is run.  America has the benefit of being a Capitalist society, where we prefer to keep the government’s hands out of our pockets (with an exception to taxation, unfortunately).  Here, money is the focal point of our greatest successes and worst falls, and has become what we base out lives around every day.  To anyone thinking these representational pieces of paper really serve no “point” or meaning, and that the concept is flawed, well spend a day on Wall Street, take a glance at a few conglomerates, and play in the New York Stock Exchange a little; the money system is important, and a war in itself.

The idea of Yap is interesting, as it can show that this civilization is finally evolving; money and a commerce system is a stepping-stone of social reform, and on an isolated island with no real contact to the rest of the developing world it is rather amusing that they would follow the same path as American settlers.  The Yap recognized that money represents power, wealth, and authority; not just anyone can be rich, basically.  In America, regardless of what people “choose” to believe, money is authority; those with wealth got there somehow, and usually from some form of work and dedication, and therefore understand how the world works.  As such, more power to them; they’ve earned it and the privileges wealth entails.  See, that is what money really represents; yes, these pieces of paper and coinage are meant to be “how much you have,” but not really; it’s a power game and a necessary part of society.  Yap recognizing this all on their own says quite a bit on the human condition, really.  Money is merely a way to show strength.

After reading these materials, I have this thought that money is the product that a government standardized and people have accepted and agreed to trust this as an exchanging media.  Money itself does not seen to have any value if it is not used on peoples’ need, it is just a form to present value. The characters from the stories view money according to their standard value that have been set and agree by their society.  This value of money is all depended on the committees agreeing on the set standard and knowing its ownership and that the owner trusting the society and marks the belongings with a society value. 

Our concept of money does not really differ a lot from them, having our value of money as U.S. dollars saved in the bank with the bank, oneself, and maybe others close related knowing this number value is in the bank.  It is the same as what the Yap people have in mind, that they have ownership to some valuable stone in their village.  The reason we think our concept is different from theirs is that for us the dollars were something that is useful comparing to some useless stone.  So we definitely think it is different from this comparison of something valuable with something that is not. 

We think the characters’ concept of money is more abstract than ours because we don’t understand their standard of value, such as the fei for Yap people.  We do not have the idea of this value in which their society knows and measures with.  Therefore, in our view everything they do to inform their society of this value seems abstract to other.

Some form of trade is absolutely necessary in any civilization for survival. Trade is essential because one person physically cannot sustain themselves. Farmers have food, but no clothes. Clothing makers have clothes, but no food. But why is money the ideal form of trade? The previously mentioned farmer may meet a clothing maker who has all the food she needs. Instead of the clothing maker trading him clothes for food she doesn’t want, money offers a standard that she can use to buy essential things.

The Yap’s use of huge “coins” may seem strange and quite abstract at first, but with a bit more thought, we can really compare pretty easily to our own currency. The American dollar is just a green piece of paper with pictures, numbers and signatures on it. It has no real value besides the number printed on it. Money does not directly represent an amount of work done, an amount of gold in America’s bank, an amount food or a social status.

Another seemingly strange aspect to the Yap’s currency is that if they don’t want to carry it to someone’s house they just recognize it’s the other person’s. This is very similar to the idea of debit in our society. The money is in an account and with a swipe of a card, its understood by both parties that it transfers from one account to the other without physically changing hands. Our concept of money is just as abstract as the Yap’s, most of us have just failed to realize that.

Money seemed like an object you can hold and possess to me before, but after reading the stories of the Yap Island and the United States and French with the labeling of the gold that has changed. the people of Yap believing their large rocks held value and made them wealthy shows how money isn’t an object you can hold, it’s an idea you believe in. If you have no belief in the idea of money it holds no value, but since people believe it holds value it becomes valuable. Money is really just a piece of paper completely worthless without the belief of it being valuable. Just as the French believed they had gained value in gold for a cabinet marked for the French in the United States’ possession, it had all been because they believed they had gained value and money. The belief factor also caused the U.S. to feel they lost money and gold even though they technically still had possession of the gold.

It’s the same way when it comes to faith, anything people can’t see, or seemingly meaningless objects that all hold value and are important because of the belief people have put into them. Money would just be stupid pieces of paper if we didn’t have the idea in our head that it’s worth a lot of value. The Yap Island story, along with the others examined, really showed me how belief in something creates value for that object or idea. It also presented the fact that the more people accept and belief in the value of that idea the more it will become accepted throughout the world. It changes from just a belief to common knowledge that is never thought twice about, or even questioned to be crazy or unethical at all. This creates a very intriguing view about how important belief is and the power it holds over our entire world.

Many people would look at the concept of fei as an abstract form of wealth. Fei are large stone coins that were used by the islanders of Yap which showed the wealth of a family, and possessed full buying power. The islanders of Yap did business normally with the fei, however if a particular fei was too large to easily be moved, the person receiving the fei left it at its previous owners’ residence and just reserved the knowledge that it belonged to them.

If one compared this to our monetary system today, they would notice a lot of similarities. Our money is just as worthless as the stone fei used on the island of Yap. The only reason we associate a certain value with a coin or piece of paper is because our government tells is what it’s worth. Also, when someone uses their credit or debit card, there is a similar process of realizing the fact the wealth is no longer theirs and belongs to someone else. We never actually physically hand over the money.

While idea the fei, the large stone money used by the islanders of Yap, seems irrational to those accustomed to the portable paper and coined money system of Western civilizations, the two are relatively the same. To the most people, large stone rocks have no value of wealth but to the people of Yap the dollar system is useless. Both systems were established to relay the concept of wealth within communities. It was understood by the people of Yap that the fei, since they were often large and heavy, did not need to be in the possession of its owner; the Western world acknowledges this idea by imposing banking systems. When the Germans demanded that the roads of Yap become paved, they placed a large red X on each fei of the island, claiming ownership until the roads became paved. In America, this would be known as a tax. Overall, it does not matter what monetary system is active within a community, as long as it is recognized throughout the entire society.