Money is a good that acts as a medium of exchange in transactions. Classically it is said that money acts as a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange. Most authors find that the first two are nonessential properties that follow from the third. In fact, other goods are often better than money at being intertemporal stores of value, since most monies degrade in value over time through inflation or the overthrow of governments.
Mike Moffat, About.com
John and I made a day trip to the home of America's fourth president, James Madison. As a result I didn't expect to have a picture for this week's theme. Then at the end of our visit we stopped in the gift shop and saw a display of bricks of tea. This was the traditional method to transport tea by camel along the Silk Road from central Asia. The tea was in this form when colonists dumped the chests into Boston Harbor during what has come to be known as The Boston Tea Party. The tea, compressed into brick form retains its quality for a long time. To make tea, remove a small bit and brew as you would loose tea.
What, you are probably asking impatiently, does this have to do with this week's theme of money? If you were to turn this brick over, you would see the surface is marked into squares like a chocolate bar. Each square represented cash and might be traded for food or other goods. So you see, money comes in many forms and we have now illustrated the definition with which I began my commentary..
