Short message “History of money. Short message "History of money Japan - yen

1. The theme of the power of money in the world and in the human soul.
2. Accumulation and waste.
3. Moral degradation of the individual.

Death awaits you - so spend, not sparing, wealth;
But life is not over: take care of the good.
Only that person is wise who, having comprehended both,
Saves good in moderation, and spends it in moderation.
L. Samossky

One of the leading motives in O. de Balzac's story "Gobsek" is the power of money over people. In Balzac's story, this power is visibly embodied in the image of a usurer with a telling surname: Gobsek in Dutch means "live lot". The theme that Balzac touched upon in his work is one of the eternal themes. Many writers have turned to the image of the miser, which is both comical and tragic at the same time. It should be noted that Balzac's Gobsek is far from unambiguous. The author shows this character through the eyes of a young lawyer, Derville, who, at first meeting the main character, could not understand what kind of person he was: “Did he have relatives, friends? Was he poor or rich? No one could answer these questions." Derville talks about ", a tragicomic incident from the life of Gobsek: an old usurer accidentally dropped gold coin, and when it was given to him, he resolutely declared that this \\ money was not his: “But would I really live like that if I were rich!”

The remark is very sensible - indeed, it is hard to believe that a rich man would begin to live the way Gobsek lives, "man-automaton", "man-promissory note". However, as it becomes clear from the following narration, Gobseck's exclamation is most likely a maneuver intended to divert eyes. Like a typical miser, he fears that no one would know about his wealth.

Gobseck's only interest is the acquisition of wealth - it should be noted that in this area the talents of this man are truly massive. Gobsek also has his own philosophy, in which money takes pride of place. As the main life value, the concentration of all possibilities and aspirations, material wealth acts: “Live with me, you will find out that of all the blessings of the earth there is only one reliable enough to make it worth a person to chase him. Is this gold. All the forces of mankind are concentrated in gold.”

So, here is the answer to Derville's unspoken question, does Gobsek know about God, does he believe in Him? What religion does this person belong to? Gold is the only force that the old usurer recognizes: “It takes time to fulfill our whims, we need material opportunities or efforts. Well! In gold, everything is contained in the germ, and it gives everything in reality. Gobsek enjoys the consciousness of his power, which he has thanks to money. He sincerely believes that nothing in the world has power over him. However, the power of Gobsek manifests itself to a greater extent in the sphere of speculation than in reality. Of course, the usurer shakes out solid money from his clients, but this is where the manifestations of his power end. Gobsek lives as if he does not have a huge fortune. The old usurer, like Pushkin's stingy knight, is enough to think that he could have everything he wants. But the worst thing is that the hero no longer wants anything but the money itself. In talking about their power, Gobseck almost becomes a poet for a few moments, so inspired is he by this single theme.

“This wizened old man suddenly grew in my eyes, became a fantastic figure, the personification of the power of gold. Life and people inspired me at that moment with horror.

“Does it all come down to money?” - such is Derville's reaction to the revelations of Gobsek. And yet, despite his millions, despite his power, Gobsek is at the same time pathetic. At least the young lawyer at some point looked at the usurer as if he was "gravely ill." And he is really sick – spiritually sick. He has no family, no children, he is old, weak. For whom does he accumulate untold wealth? Why live like a poor man with millions? Nothing in the world has power over him except money, his idol. Gobseck enjoys the specter of the power that money has. Actually, he needs money not as a means of acquiring various things, but as a way to exercise power over others. Balzac, showing the power of money over people, did not limit himself to the traditional image of a miser-usurer. In the life of Countess Resto, money also plays an important role. It should be noted right away: the countess, unlike Gobsek, considers money precisely as a means by which she maintains the external gloss of a secular lady and keeps her lover, a vicious person with an angelic appearance. The need for money, which the lover constantly demands, forces the countess to turn to the moneylender. The fear that her husband will deprive her younger children of her inheritance pushes her to unworthy intrigues - the woman is ready to take advantage of her eldest son's affection for her and her father, only to get into the hands of the dying count's will.

So, Balzac contrasts two ways of relating to money - the accumulation of wealth for its own sake and unbridled spending, clearly showing the inferiority of both positions. It is no coincidence that the author described last days Gobsek's life. The old man is sick, lying in bed, he understands that his days are numbered - and yet the enrichment mechanism continues to operate. Gobsek's stinginess reaches terrifying proportions, loses all logic. Clients brought him various gifts - food, silver utensils, which he sold to shops. But because of the unwillingness of the stingy old man to sell the goods a little cheaper, the products deteriorate. Money, goods matter when they are used - that is the meaning of the picture of rotting food in the apartment of the late Gobsek. And to whom will his fortune go? A prostitute, his distant relative. It can be assumed that this woman is likely to quickly spend easy money and slide back into the usual abyss. “Yes, I have everything, and I have to part with everything. Well, well, papa Gobsek, don't be afraid, be true to yourself..." - these are the last words of the old usurer. No regrets about a joylessly spent life devoted to acquiring money, which he himself almost never used, no thoughts about his soul - nothing ... And what is the soul for a person who recognizes gold as the only power in the world?

So, Balzac showed the power that money has over a person. But it is necessary to note the following: it is by no means money that makes a person a miser or a spendthrift. Only the person himself determines what is the main value for him. As long as a person is alive, it is not too late to reconsider one's position if following it negatively affects the inner world and the outer life of the individual. After all, it was not money that destroyed the countess's family, caused the death of her husband, but the way of life of this woman. The reason for the moral death of Gobsek, which occurred long before his physical death, also lies not in money as such, but in the attitude of this man towards them, who, like the Jews brought out of slavery, bowed before the golden calf, forgetting about the eternal greatness and power of God.

I returned to my room completely stunned. This wizened old man suddenly grew in my eyes, became a fantastic figure, the personification of the power of gold. Life and people inspired me at that moment with horror.

“Does it all come down to money?” I thought.

I remember I couldn't sleep for a long time. I kept imagining around a pile of gold. Yes, and the beautiful countess greatly occupied me. I must confess, to my shame, that she completely eclipsed the image of Fanny Malvo, an ingenuous, pure creature, doomed to work and obscurity. But in the morning, in the foggy daydreams of awakening, the sweet girlish image immediately arose before me in all its charm, and I already thought only of Fanny ...

Would you like to drink a glass of water with sugar? asked Madame Grandlier, interrupting Derville.

With pleasure, he replied.

You know, I don’t see what this whole story has to do with us, ”said Madame Granlier, ringing the bell.

Thunder and lightning! exclaimed Derville, using his favorite expression. - I will immediately drive away sleep from the eyes of Mademoiselle Camille - let her know that her happiness until recently depended on Papa Gobsek. But as the old man died the other day at the age of eighty-nine, Monsieur de Restaud will soon come into possession of an excellent fortune. How and why - this must be explained. As for Fanny Malvo, you know her well. This is my wife.

My friend,” remarked the Vicomtesse de Grandlier, “you, with your characteristic frankness, will perhaps confess this in front of twenty witnesses!

Yes, I'm ready to shout it to the whole world! - said the lawyer.

Here is water with sugar, drink it, my dear Derville. You will never achieve anything, but you will be the happiest and best of people.

I've lost the thread a little,' said the viscountess's brother suddenly, awakening from a sweet slumber. - So you, then, were with some countess on Gelderskaya street. What were you doing there?

A few days after my conversation with the old Dutchman, - Derville continued his story, - I defended my dissertation, received a degree in law, then was enrolled in the solicitors' college. The old curmudgeon Gobseck's confidence in me has greatly increased. He even turned to me for advice on his various risky scams, which he boldly embarked on, having collected accurate information, although even the most sophisticated businessman would consider them dangerous. To my surprise, this man, whom no one could influence in anything, listened to my advice with a kind of reverence. True, they always went to his advantage. But now, after working for three years in the lawyer's office, I got a position there as a senior clerk and moved from the Rue De Grey, since my patron, in addition to a hundred and fifty francs a month's salary, now also gave me a table and an apartment. What a happy day it was for me! When I went to the old usurer to say goodbye, he did not say a single friendly word to me, did not express any regret, did not invite me to visit him, but only cast a look at me, his amazing, unusual look, from which one could think that he possessed the gift of clairvoyance. However, a week later, the old man himself visited me, brought a complicated case about the alienation of a land plot, and since then he has continued to use my gratuitous advice with such ease as if he was paying for them. At the end of the second year, 1818-1819, in the winter, my patron, a big reveler and squanderer, found himself in cramped circumstances, forcing him to sell the office. Although in those days the prices for a lawyer's patent did not reach such fabulous sums as they do now, he asked for a lot for his institution - one hundred and fifty thousand francs. If an active, knowledgeable and sensible lawyer were entrusted with such a sum to buy this office, he could decently live on the income from it, pay interest and pay off the debt in ten years. But I didn’t have a penny for my soul, since my father was a petty provincial bourgeois. I am the seventh in a row in our family, and of all the capitalists in the world, I was intimately acquainted only with Gobseck ... But, imagine, an ambitious desire and some kind of faint ray of hope inspired me the daring idea to turn to him. And then one evening I slowly walked to the Rue De Grey. My heart was pounding as I knocked on the door of the gloomy house I knew so well. I remembered everything that I had heard from the old miser at that time, when I did not even suspect what tormenting anxiety tormented people who crossed the threshold of his dwelling. But now I am walking the path they have beaten and I will ask the same way as they do. “Well, no,” I decided, “an honest person must always and everywhere maintain his dignity. It's not worth getting humiliated for money. I'll show myself as practical as he is."

When I moved out of the apartment, Father Gobsek rented my room to get rid of the neighbors, and ordered a lattice window to be cut in his door; He let me in only after he saw my face through this window.

How do you know? He didn't tell anyone about it but me.

The old man's lips parted, and folds gathered at the corners of his mouth, like on a window curtain, but his silent grin was accompanied by a cold look.

To this alone I owe the honor of seeing you at my place, ”he added in a dry tone and fell silent.

I sat as if lost.

Listen to me, papa Gobsek,” I finally spoke, trying my best to speak calmly, although the impassive look of this old man, who did not take his bright shining eyes off me, confused me.

He made a gesture that meant: "Speak!"

I know it's very difficult to touch you. Therefore, I will not waste eloquence, trying to portray to you the position of a poor clerk, who has all hope only for you, since in the whole world he cannot find a close soul who is not indifferent to his future. But let's leave close souls alone, things are decided in a businesslike manner, without sensitive outpourings and any tenderness. Here is the state of affairs. My patron's office brings in twenty thousand a year; but I think that in my hands it will give forty thousand. I feel: there is something here, - I said, tapping my forehead with my finger, - and if you agreed to lend me the hundred and fifty thousand necessary to buy an office, I would pay you back in ten years.

Smart speeches! said Gobsek, and shook hands with me. “Never since I have been in business has a man made the purpose of his visit so clear to me. What are the guarantees? - he asked, looking me over, and immediately answered himself: - None. How old are you?

In ten days it will be twenty-five. Otherwise, I would not be able to conclude contracts.

Correctly.

Well, so how?

Perhaps!

Truth? Then you need to arrange everything as soon as possible, otherwise they will kill you, give you more.

Tomorrow morning bring me the birth certificate and we'll talk about your case. I will think.

In the morning, at eight o'clock, I was already at the old man's. He took my metrics, put on his glasses, cleared his throat, spat, wrapped himself more tightly in his black lionfish, and carefully read the entire metrics record, from the first to the last word, turned it over in his hands, looked at me again, coughed, fidgeted in his chair and said:

Well, let's bargain.

I trembled.

I take a loan in different ways, - he said, - at least fifty percent, one hundred, two hundred, and sometimes five hundred.

I turned pale.

Well, I'll take only twelve and a half percent from you through an acquaintance ... - He hesitated. - No, not like that - I'll take thirteen percent a year from you. Will it suit you?

Suitable, I replied.

See. If there are too many, defend yourself, Grotius (he sometimes jokingly called me Grotius). I ask you for thirteen percent - such is my trade. Estimate - under force to you so much to pay? I don't like it when people give up right away. Once again I ask: isn't it a lot?

No, I replied. - I'll cry, I'll just have to fit in to work.

That's it! remarked Gobsek, looking at me sideways with a sly look. - So, customers will pay?

Is there anything stronger than hope?
-Yes: waiting. I am able to wait even when there is no hope.

Don't you understand that we live like pigs and die like pigs, just because we are nobody to each other.

It seems that everyone was looking for the shortest road to money and at the same time bypassed the most direct one - the one that leads through work.

Accept everything when it comes to you, enjoy everything while it lasts, release everything when it has to go.

Everything that is beautiful in this life is either immoral, or illegal, or leads to obesity.

Is it really only then that I appeared for this short period of time in the world in order to lie, confuse, do stupid things and disappear.

Perhaps the whole point of this life is to be needed by at least someone. After all, if no one thinks about you, then it’s as if you don’t exist.

Treat change like cleaning your apartment. First one thing, then another, and you look - everything glitters!

Get ready for happy gifts of fate. And believe that everything is possible!

Faced with difficulties, you can not give up, run. You must assess the situation, look for solutions and believe that everything is being done for the best. Patience is the key to victory.

"Money on the Internet" - Non-anonymous systems require mandatory identification of system participants. The scammer gets his money. Conclusion. ATM security. Types of electronic money. 4. Fraud in transactions with ATMs. "Electronic money: risks of losing money and methods of protection.". True, according to bank employees, customers are in no hurry to use this service.

"Money and inflation" - Money is either stored or in motion. Warm up. Key concepts: How does inflation affect the purchasing power of money? Types of money. Exercise. How much money does the country need? The value of jewelry and real estate rises faster than the cost of living during inflation. How do you understand the statement "The customer is always right" in terms of marketing?

"Pocket money for a child" - The amount must be reasonable and increase with age. You can give pocket money to a child from the age of six or seven. To give or not to give children pocket money? No pocket money needed. The child should be allowed to spend his money as he chooses. YES - 72% NO - 8% 4. What do you spend your pocket money on?

"Commodity and money" - There was a time when money did not exist. A certain amount of monetary units is conditionally considered equivalent for goods. Money is secondary to the commodity, it does not exist without the commodity. People have a desire to save money. Money is an illusory form of universal labor time. Like government debt.

"Where does the money go" - Income part of the family: The family budget is one of the most important components of every family. Expenses. The division of the income of each family member into two parts: public and personal. Family budget. Using your income rationally, you will never find yourself in debt. 3) Records of expenses are kept daily. The budget is divided into two parts - income and expenditure.

The history of money is very interesting. The first money arose in ancient times, and has survived to this day, but in a completely different form. Because of money there were wars, revolutions, change of governments and overthrow of kings. Are they the engine of history? Or is their role limited only to purchasing power? To answer these questions, we will learn the history of the appearance of money, the ways of their evolution and the history of distribution around the world.

Ancient times

History of money originates from the time of the existence of ancient tribes. But the money of those times was significantly different from the money of today. It was rather not money, but a means of exchange. So, for example, in pastoral tribes, money was cattle, in Pomeranian settlements, money was fish, which was exchanged for bread and meat so necessary for the tribe. It is known that different peoples had their own items that served them as money:

In Mexico, cocoa beans were money;

In Canada, Alaska and Siberia, ancient ancestors used the skins of valuable animals as money;

Among some tribes of South America and on the islands of Oceania, seashells or pearls were money;

The tribes of New Zealand used stones with a hole in the middle instead of money.

In some places grain or salt served as money. The use of commodity-money made it possible to exchange them with other tribes or use them for their intended purpose in their economy. But they were extremely inconvenient to use. Therefore, there was a need for another, more practical form of payment.

Kauri. Photo from shells-of-aquarius.com

The Afars, a warlike tribe that inhabits the Danakil Desert in northeastern Ethiopia, have a legend that their land was once extremely rich in gold. The Afars, bathing in luxury, became conceited and angered God. All their gold turned into salt, and the tribe instantly became impoverished. To this day, it lives from hand to mouth, wandering with its lean cattle through the meager pastures of Danakil. But the Afars believe that sooner or later they will redeem themselves and God will turn the salt into gold again.

However, salt turned out to be not much worse than gold: everyone needs it and is always in price, that is, it is liquid; stored for an arbitrarily long time without losing essential properties; easily divided (exchanged). So for the Afars for a whole millennium (up to the 20th century), salt became the main means of exchange. For example, an Afar who raises sheep wants to buy milk from his neighbor who raises cows. However, the sheep have not yet had time to grow wool, so barter is not possible. He exchanges milk for salt and is all the more pleased that, unlike milk, it does not turn sour and he can put it aside in reserve.

Salt is not a conditional commodity, unlike money, but a consumed one, so it is not yet a monetary system in the classical sense. But this is no longer a completely natural exchange, since merchants can accept salt not only as a product, but also to preserve wealth (vegetables will rot, meat will go rotten, and nothing will happen to salt), and for subsequent use as a means of payment.

Gold has two important advantages over salt, both of which stem from its rarity. First, it packs the same value in a much smaller volume, which means it's much more portable. Secondly, there is a much lower risk that a new huge source of gold (deposit or import) will be discovered and its value will drop sharply.

Food as a currency

In the most ancient agricultural societies of Mesopotamia, three millennia BC, barley was the most important commodity. The smallest "bargaining unit" was shekel- 180 barley grains (usually about 11 grams). Barley shekels could express the value of any product or service.

Over time, the shekel became a universal measure of weight, they began to measure, in particular, silver. In the laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi (about the 18th century BC) - the oldest surviving set of written laws - fines were indicated in silver shekels. The value of barley was highly dependent on the crop, so silver was a much more stable "currency".

In feudal Japan until the 19th century, the main, so to speak, unit of wealth was coca- the amount of rice that can feed an adult during the year (about 278 liters, or about 150 kilograms). If a landowner was said to have 30,000 koku, this did not mean that he had that much rice. It was the total value of all his assets - productive land, livestock, labor, reduced to the most understandable unit of measurement. Coku measured the wealth of even those possessions where rice was not grown at all.

Among the nomads of the Eurasian steppes, cattle played the role of a universal equivalent: with its help they paid taxes and penalties, redeemed brides, exchanged bread, tar, high-quality weapons and other necessary goods from settled neighbors.

All these "natural currencies" had a common problem: they were extremely volatile, that is, their value relative to other goods fluctuated greatly throughout the year and depended on many natural factors (crops could die from rain or drought, livestock could die). In this sense, minerals were much more reliable. Gold and silver turned out to be ideal: they are quite common and at the same time quite rare, they do not corrode, do not oxidize, they are easy to recognize. For small transactions, copper was most often used: it is also quite chemically stable and is common on all continents. From the use of metals as "natural currencies" by weight (in the form of sand or bars) there was only one step left to coinage.

Slaves and shells

But the most famous example of commodity money is, of course, cowrie shells. They had two important advantages. First, they are almost impossible to fake. Secondly, a huge margin was provided by simply moving shells from point A to point B: say, in the Niger Delta, the most important trading hub of West Africa, they cost a thousand (!) Times more than in the Maldives, where they were mined the most.

Kauri were the most durable of the "natural currencies": the first evidence of their use as a means of payment dates back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, and they were forced out of circulation only by the beginning of the 20th century. They were used as a means of payment throughout Africa, India, Indo-China, the Pacific Islands and among North American Indians from the Pacific coast to the Great Lakes. And in China, at one time, coins were even banned (to stop counterfeiting money), and cowries were the main means of payment. Even the traditional Chinese character for "money" originated from a stylized image of a shell.

From the 16th to the 19th century, kauri were a key element in the slave trade system. Europeans bought them in the same Maldives for gold, for rice (which was brought from India) or for some other goods. Thousands of tons of shells were brought to Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch ports. Ships bound for slave markets in the Niger Delta or Zanzibar often carried nothing but cowries. Slaves were driven mainly from the interior of Africa (Uganda, Congo, Zaire), where kauri was the most common "currency" and, of course, cost much more than on the coast.

The expanding cotton and sugarcane plantations in the New World demanded more and more slaves. Accordingly, Europeans brought more and more kauri to Africa. The natural result of this was inflation. In the second half of the 19th century, so many shells were needed to buy a batch of slaves in the interior of Africa that the profits from reselling slaves to planters no longer covered the cost of transporting cowries. Thus began the decline of the slave trade, and with it the "shell economy."

Five hundred years ago, a dozen cowrie shell beads could buy a slave in Zanzibar. Nowadays, on the same Zanzibar, a string of such beads can be bought as a souvenir for a dollar and a half.

Eternal values

Commodity money as a simple and reliable means of payment arises almost inevitably in any society where there is no established banking system. A textbook example is the Soviet economy of the collapse period, when "normal" money was rapidly becoming cheaper and there was nothing to buy with it, and the people willingly used vodka, cigarettes and other enduring values ​​in mutual settlements. In prison, where money is simply forbidden, cigarettes usually play their role. Those who read Jack London should remember that the heroes of his stories about Alaska almost never pay in dollars, preferring gold dust. The founding father of economics, Adam Smith, a Scot by origin, wrote in the 18th century that in his homeland, peasants often pay among themselves with nails: "ordinary" money is still not much to spend on anything, but always nail something somewhere necessary.

metal money

Gradually money becomes metallic. And in the seventh century BC, minted coins appear. They quickly spread around the world. This is easy to explain, because coins are convenient to store, transport, crush and combine. They have a high cost with a small volume and weight.

In most countries, silver, copper or bronze acted as the metal for minting coins. And only in Egypt and Assyria gold was used as money as far back as two millennia BC. With the growth of commodity-production relations, it became necessary to increase the value of the exchange equivalent. From this point on, gold and silver become the main money.

Paper money

History of money received a new round of development with the advent of paper money. They appeared in 910 in China. And in Russia, the first paper money was introduced under Catherine II in 1769.

With the advent of banks, it was they who became the custodians of money and basic values. When depositing money, a person received a certificate from the bank. It indicated how much the banker had in storage and the bearer of this certificate was supposed to receive a certain amount of money from the bank. This made it possible to pay not with coins, but with these certificates. A little time passed, and the certificates themselves began to be equated with real money. This is the history of paper money. And the very word "banknote" originates from the English words "bank note" and in translation means "bank record".

And if earlier the economic essence of paper money was the obligation to issue natural money, now the banknotes themselves are the same money.

AUSTRALIA - DOLLAR

BUTANE - NGULTHRUM

JAPAN - YEN

Emergence of state central banks

The first such bank appeared in Sweden in 1661. The main task of the state central bank was to control banking operations in the country and responsibility for the state of the national currency, including its production.

Other countries did not immediately follow Sweden's lead. So, for example, the central bank in France was founded 140 years later, and in Russian Empire The State Bank appeared in 1860. And only in 1913 the Federal Reserve System was founded in the USA. Prior to its introduction, dollar bills were issued by individual US banks, and differed from each other in design and size.

The beginning of globalization

In 1944, the Bretton Woods International Conference was held, at which an agreement was made to peg the dollar to the gold rate and this continued until 1971. It was the dollar that became the international currency on which international trade was based. At the conference, it was decided to establish the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is from the Bretton Woods Conference that the modern process of globalization of the whole world begins.

Bank cards

In 1950, the world's first Diners Club credit card was issued to pay for restaurant visits. And in 1952, the American bank Franklin National Bank issued the first bank credit card.

Nowadays, you will not surprise anyone with bank cards. History of money continues and gains momentum. According to statistics, the average American currently has about ten plastic cards for different purposes.

Computers in the service of financiers

1972 was marked by the involvement of computers in the financial sector. For example, in the United States, a centralized electronic network is being created to account for bank checks. And in 1973, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) was created. The creators of this system were 239 banks representing 15 countries of the world. For the first time, teletype was no longer used for interbank money transfers.

Starting in 1977, personal computers appeared in retail, and this marked the computerization of various sectors of the economy and life, the creation of new forms of money and the emergence of the Internet.