Money, debt and wealth

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Introduction
Money ranks with the wheel and fire among ancient inventions without which the modern world could not have come into being. But it is much more mysterious. It is a nuit of account that changes size like a robber yardstick; a store of value that can swell or shrink over time; a medium of exchange that often never leaves the bank; an interest-bearing debt and a non-interest-bearing debt; a commodity (like gold) and a non-commodity token (paper money); easily transferable into real assets by individuals yet not at all transferable into real assets by the community; counterfeiters are sent to jail for making it, but the private banking system can create it out of nothing and lend it at interest; some economists think it merely a veil behind which real factors determine economic life, others consider it among the most important of determinants; some think its quantity should be determined by a fixed rule, others that it should be manipulated by public authorities; and in addition, some people even claim that it inspires a love that is the root of all evil. At least it is a rich source of bewilderment and danger. Probably in today's world more people are hurt by out-of-control money than by out-of-control wheels and fires.