Money by Edwin Walter Kemmerer, Princeton, 1935
Money is a comparatively modern device. Our
earliest record of coin dates back to the eleventh century before Christ in
China, although at that time man had been on the earth probably a million or
more years. Goods were exchanged long before money existed, and the origin of
exchange was in gifts. One would make a present to another in the hope of
obtaining a present in return. Our modern customs in regard to Christmas and
birthday presents are reminiscent of these primitive forms of exchange.
Mammon by Robert Graves, Annual Oration, London
School of Economics, 1963
Let us go back farther in ancient history, to the
idea of barter; and beyond that to the idea of obligatory gift-exchanges; and
beyond that, to the still purer idea of unconditional gift. What we now call
‘finance’ is, I hold, an intellectual perversion of what began as warm human
love.
A People’s History of the United States by Howard
Zinn
Everyone could share the routine but necessary jobs
for a few hours a day, and leave most of the time free for enjoyment,
creativity, labors of love, and yet produce enough for an equal and ample
distribution of goods.
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