What's in Your Wallet...?

Some say that the discipline of philosophy has failed society with regards to two incisive questions of importance in our times. The first is, What is power? The second is, What is money? The second question has been occupying my time most recently.

So, what is money, really...? To find out, the first thing I did was take a closer look at the money in my wallet, after which I concluded that money looks about like money as always looked throughout my life (though I have noticed that money now includes various security measures intended to thwart counterfeiting).

I then went to the Internet to learn more about what money is. Since I had mostly $10 "bills" in my wallet, I focused my searches on the history of the $10 bill in America. Eventually, I found several images of different $10 bills that have been issued in the US and realized that none of the images were "bills" at all. Click on the images below and see for yourself...

The first image is a so-called "Federal Reserve Note," which Americans today use on a more or less daily basis. The second image is an older "Silver Certificate," which is no longer in circulation. The third is a still older "Gold Certificate," also no longer in circulation. Now that you have carefully looked over each, ask yourself:

Which currency would you prefer to carry in your wallet...?

My preference would be the Gold Certificate, thank you very much. As for the question of what money is...

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In Fiat Currency We Trust

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