Forum Overview :: Tansin A. Darcos's Alter Ego
 
Re: Currency is more than 2500 years old, not 200 years old. by Tansin A. Darcos 08/22/2022, 7:56am PDT
Fullofkittens wrote:

It's as old as empires' need to feed the imperial soldiers keeping far-off communities in line:

  1. Invent the concept of money.

  2. Send tax collectors to hit up farmers for that money, which they do not have. Tell them they'd better get some if they want to keep their farms.

  3. Send money to your imperial soldiers.

  4. Farmers sell food to the soldiers for the money.

  5. Farmers can pay the tax collectors and keep their farms.



Even if this system didn't exist as far back as ancient Greece (it did), it's the whole plot of the legend of Robin Hood which first appeared in the 1300s.

I think you're wrong on this point. Before there was money, there still was barter. You can't threaten people who don't have money where it doesn't exist to produce what they don't have and can't get. To the extent there was anything of truth in the story of Robin Hood, either the Sheriff of Nottingham was collecting food from farmers, or gold coin. First, there was barter. Then it was discovered that gold ad silver were useful as a medium of exchange, if nothing else, much more useful than trying to determine how many bushels of wheat a pig was worth.

Trying to collect a tax that's impossible to pay is very dangerous - for the tax collector. What's liable to happen if you demand from a person who doesn't have money and has never had any, to pay you money is you're liable to get a knife blade between the ribs, then fed to the farmer's hogs. Or become part of a compost heap. Or buried in a pit somewhere. Very aggressive tax collectors who pushed people who were already on the ragged edge of starvation, ended up disappearing, never to be seen again. Or, in some cases, he'd meet the very pretty daughter of a local farmer and decide that he should get a wife and go into farming, and just never come back. You can't get blood out of a turnip. Or if you threaten them too much, they walk away and go elsewhere. In which case, the people who traded with him are liable to make an example out of you.

Typically, before there was money, the local tax collector had to accept farm goods (barter) as the farmer didn't have any money. And if the taxes were too high, they might walk away. Or riot. Never threaten someone with nothing to lose. You may end up paying the ultimate price.
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Understanding the Future (Part I) by Tansin A. Darcos 08/12/2022, 9:20am PDT NEW
    tDarcos, you're still wrong about what non-fungable means NT by Unique like you and Me 08/16/2022, 11:48pm PDT NEW
    The time's nigh that finally information will start to actually trump NT by Capital 08/17/2022, 12:14am PDT NEW
    Re: Understanding the Future (Part I) by Tuey 08/17/2022, 5:37am PDT NEW
        Re: Understanding the Future (Part I) by laudablepuss 08/17/2022, 8:25am PDT NEW
            Re: Understanding the Future (Part I) by Ice Cream Jonsey 08/17/2022, 12:31pm PDT NEW
    Currency is more than 2500 years old, not 200 years old. by Fullofkittens 08/17/2022, 7:01am PDT NEW
        Re: Currency is more than 2500 years old, not 200 years old. by Tansin A. Darcos 08/22/2022, 7:56am PDT NEW
    My error by Tansin A. Darcos 08/23/2022, 6:24am PDT NEW
 
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