a source familiar with the matter on Nostr: "consumptive demand driven by nonmonetary purposes makes it a worse money" There's a ...
"consumptive demand driven by nonmonetary purposes makes it a worse money"
There's a story in a book I read. I apologize, but I don't recall whether it was Villheljmur Steffanson or Weston A. Price and internet searching isn't helping at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it was one of those.
There was a mining prospector in Alaska during the early days of European exploration of that area. Given the bleak landscape (and the short experience of most Europeans in such conditions), imported food assumed some importance. In particular, the most durable imported food - canned tuna - emerged as a form of money. This mining prospector traded some gold he had panned for a can of tuna. He was dismayed when he tried to eat it and discovered it completely rotten and inedible. When the prospector complained to the proprietor who had sold the tuna, he just laughed. "That's trading tuna, that's not eating tuna".
Your theory seems to be that trading tuna is somehow better than eating tuna.
There's a story in a book I read. I apologize, but I don't recall whether it was Villheljmur Steffanson or Weston A. Price and internet searching isn't helping at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it was one of those.
There was a mining prospector in Alaska during the early days of European exploration of that area. Given the bleak landscape (and the short experience of most Europeans in such conditions), imported food assumed some importance. In particular, the most durable imported food - canned tuna - emerged as a form of money. This mining prospector traded some gold he had panned for a can of tuna. He was dismayed when he tried to eat it and discovered it completely rotten and inedible. When the prospector complained to the proprietor who had sold the tuna, he just laughed. "That's trading tuna, that's not eating tuna".
Your theory seems to be that trading tuna is somehow better than eating tuna.