A Brief History of Money

Imagine a world where the United States produces more goods than Western Europe and China combined. A world where the US pumps out 20 times more oil than Saudi Arabia. A world where America’s debt is dwarfed by its powerful and productive economy. This world, which today sounds more like a fantasy, was a reality not so long ago. Yet a mere 70 years later, the world looks quite different: the US economy’s debt has reached a crippling 59 trillion dollars, the government is forced to borrow trillions of dollars every year just to avoid financial collapse, and the income of more than half of America’s families can’t even keep up with the cost of living. How did things take such a sharp turn so quickly? What will come next for what’s called the world's greatest economy? You cannot really answer these questions and truly understand the world we live in without understanding the history of money, an amazing tool invented some 6,500 years ago. This book is not for economists and it is not about the bits and pieces of economic theory, though you cannot cover the history of money without touching upon some important highlights of economics. The book also does not strive to be an encyclopedia of money. Rather it is an overview, designed to give an idea of how step by step we got here, and what should we expect from the years ahead.