Louis Russell

The Money Phenomenon Louis Russell

Between October 5th, 2007 and March 2nd, 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had plummeted from 14,066.01 to 6,626.94-a free-fall of nearly fifty-three percent. In a span of less than two years, tens of trillions of dollars in American assets were suddenly 'incinerated'. How did all that money simply disappear? The answer does not lie in understanding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, but involves coming to a basic understanding of the web of assumptions that underlies our monetary technology. Although the invention of fiat currency has dissolved numerous difficulties that arose from the use of precious metals in exchange, the way in which capitalist culture has incorporated paper money into its mode of life has led to a perpetual dependency on over-extensions of credit and a maximal emphasis on the value of commodities in immediate exchange. The Money Phenomenon both urges thinkers to devise canons of economic analysis that will account for a holistic perspective of value and time and provides possibilities for philosophers, economists, and technologists to develop decentralized, individualized solutions to fundamental problems.