Letter Re: The Value of a Dollar as Currency Unit

Howdy Jim,
Regarding the quotation by Dr. Walter E. Williams wherein he writes about "dollars as being 'certificates of performance'" it reminds me of discussions years ago of the nature of money. Perhaps it may be condensed down to something such as, "Money is a measure of life energy."

Whether it is fiat paper currency, or silver or gold coinage currency, or electron-charged cyberspace currency, what it measures and thereby accounts for is life energy. As an example consider the different measures of value we accord to an ounce bar of pure silver and an ounce coin of the the same material. The difference is the amount of life energy involved in making the coin. ("The only people who 'make money' are the people who work in a mint. The rest of us have to earn it." - Earl Nightingale) The life energy expended in turning the silver ore into a pure-silver bar makes the bar more valuable than the ore. The life energy expended in turning the pure-silver bar into a pure-silver coin makes the coin more valuable than the bar. The different values we accord these various forms of this one material are the amount of life energy we humans are willing to invest or exchange in order to posses or control these different forms of this one material. Whatever medium of exchange we use (paper, coin, electron, or other), it serves as a measure of life energy.

Thank you again for all that you and yours are and do. Regards, - Lex