Why do we need money?

Image form http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/writing/story/sto_set.html

I am broke…I take that back…it is much more manifestically correct to say that I am on a fix budget. That being the case I cannot help but ask myself "Why do I need money?". I mean apart from the obvious eat or a starve scenario. I guess the question really is, "When did this whole money thing come into vogue?". Who came up with this great idea that keeps me feeling like I am just about to fall off the end of an economic treadmill that has got it‘s knob turned up to aerobic. Once again we can blame the Sumerians. I am not going to blame them for the current speed of the economic treadmill but they did come up with the most ancient form of money we know of called the Shekel. The term came into use around 3000 BC in Mesopotamia and was a reference to a specific mass of barley. It was a unit of currency and a unit of weight just like the British pound. Laws about money came into effect around 2050 BC in the land of Ur (Codex of Ur-Nammu) but were solidified into the laws that we would be more familiar with by 1760 BC in the form of The Code of Hammurabi. The money meme spread like wild fire from there. Still today the images on our dollar reflect it’s ancient ancestors; the eagle, the unfinished pyramid, and the eye. If you want to go in to that more go to http://thestygianport.blogspot.com/.

Why do I need money? I don’t know if I have really answer that for myself . Before money there was barter with strangers and enemies. Other then that non-monetary societies relied on gift economics. Gift economic... I like the sound of that. Maybe we could revive the concept of gift economics. SPREAD THE MEME!!!! Well even though I am no richer in the pocket after all this bla bla bloging I must say I am feeling richer in the mind. I now realize my dollar stands on the back of giants (greedy alien Sumerian giants perhaps but giants none the less). The roots of cash are ancient and the need for it is probably not going away in the near future. So feel free to post any ideas on how I can get more money or how I can get over my need for it. I am open to either but until then I will be wishing I could pay my mortgage with love. -Anaspaceship 2010