If Money Were to Disappear

If I were to wake up tomorrow and there would no longer be such a thing as money, I don't think it would change as much in the world as we might think it would. People would still be going crazy over it by using mass amounts of valuable items to trade. Trading gems may be the new form of currency, which would be disastrous for the countries whose economies already heavily rely on an illegal diamond trade: mass brutality would increase even more. On a smaller scale, people may trade ipods, cameras, computers, jewelry, books, or clothes for common goods. Honestly though, I think if I woke up and all of the money in the world were suddenly gone, most things economically would just be put on hold until new money was printed, because most people in our world can't imagine life without something that too often is the main focus of their lives.

The biggest problem with leaning on trade as a lifestyle is that loan opportunities would be scarce. Banks would be useless regarding that. It's one thing to lend out bank members' money, which all looks exactly alike, and has virtually no chance of sentimental attachment. It's quite another to lend out personal items which always carry with them the possibility of some kind of sentimental value. There may be a solution to this problem, but I don't see one, and if I'm right, then there would no longer be any immediate opportunity for those who can't afford an education to get one, or those who can't yet afford a car to get one, or for anyone who can't afford one of the immediate essentials of life to get it at all. I think our poverty level would increase tenfold.

If we were to move back to the lifestyle of trading goods as a form of money, I don't think life would be any more comfortable than it is with money on a large scale. Just because money doesn't exist, it doesn't mean that poverty doesn't still exist, and those living at or below the poverty line are put in an even worse situation if they are relying solely on trade.