Our Fake Money System
FROM Money: Fact and Fiction by J. D. Malan (1971):
ONCE UPON A TIME there lived a good King who ruled over a small country where the people were poor but honest and hard working. The King was worried about the poverty which was almost universal throughout the land, and spent almost all his time deep in thought trying to find ways to help his people. Most of his subjects, however, did not worry about their hard life, and found enjoyment in discussing amongst themselves their ideas of dream worlds where life would be comfortable and luxurious. But they knew they were only dreams, and they returned to their labours without complaint.
The King, however, being a more serious man, was upset by their complacency and sought the advice of his Oracle, who was also a very cunning man. The Oracle told the King that his subjects should be prevented from talking about their dream worlds. This he undertook to do if the King proclaimed that no person could use words which were not authorized by the Oracle, who would have sole control over the issue of new words. So as not to be too hard on the people, the King insisted, as a condition of the agreement, that any word which described anything the people already possessed would be free for all to use. And so the people were able to see that their King was indeed a good and kind man, and life went on much as before even though they were rather restricted in their dream talks.
Years passed, until many generations later there was nobody who knew why the Oracle was the only person who could issue new words, but it was not very important and no one bothered to work it out. Then one day a very clever man invented a new tool to make life on the farms easier, and he dutifully asked the Oracle for a new word to describe it. This began to happen more and more often as the people learned new skills and discovered new materials, and soon the Oracle began to demand a share of each new invention every time he issued a new word. (more…)


