Chapter 6

What Is Money Really?

In Chapter 2 we examined Carl Menger’s framework for defining money and its use primarily as a medium of exchange. Chapters 3–5 described the monetary and debt system as it exists today. I hope it left you with some significant doubts about the state of our existing financial system. Now it’s time to peel the monetary onion further to glimpse money’s fundamental core, which will help illuminate why some of the root problems with this system relate to characteristics of the fiat currency system that has been adopted throughout the world.