this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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Money is literally an "I owe you"
When money was first used, instead of exchanging an apple for an orange, X amount of apples is exchanged for a dollar. The dollar is the buyer saying "I owe you" to the seller.
When the apple seller now use the dollar on something else, that's just selling the "I owe you" in exchange for something else.
Spending money is just selling debt.
(At least that's how money has always worked in my mind. Listen, economy is weird, idk how this shit works, I'm just coming up with my own explanation okay.)
Bartering also assumes, for your example, that the apple farmer wants oranges and the orange farmer wants apples. Consider that either one may not. And then consider how many other goods exist even in primitive agrarian society that people may or may not want at any given time.
Currency is whatever the agreed vehicle is for value exchange that solves this. The apple farmer can now sell apples for silver nuggets and use the silver to buy tools from someone else later, which the orange farmer either doesn't have or is unwilling to part with. It allows for more complex transactions that then helped grow more complex societies.