Summary
We dream about it, argue about it, worry about it, celebrate it, spend it, save it, we transfer it from one emotion to another. But what exactly is money? And why do we trust it? Frances Stonor Saunders takes a journey through some of the fundamentals of money. During her journey she dips her toe into the world of quantitative easing. How is that money invented? Is it as real as the pieces of paper in our wallets? And she explores some of the reasons for the calls to return to a gold standard. Essentially, she tries to gain a better understanding of what this stuff which we call money is really about; how and why do we maintain our faith in it, or has it just become too complicated?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC |
| 0:35.4 | Sounds. |
| 0:36.4 | Thank you for downloading analysis from the BBC. |
| 0:39.8 | For more information, please go to the Radio 4 website at |
| 0:43.0 | W. |
| 0:42.6 | W.B.C.co. UK slash Radio 4. |
| 0:47.7 | This week the program is all about money. |
| 0:50.9 | Francis Stona Saunders is intrigued by it and wonders what is money? |
| 0:57.0 | Money it's the stuff of dreams, the cause of arguments, a source of both pleasure and anxiety. |
| 1:06.0 | We hoard it in case we don't die, or we spend it, knowing that we will. |
| 1:11.0 | We invest it with our affections and disaffections. |
| 1:14.8 | There's dirty money, clean money, hush money, guilt money, blood money, |
| 1:18.8 | funny money, bad money, pure money. |
| 1:21.6 | The philosopher Gaeorg Simmel could think of no more striking |
| 1:24.6 | symbol of the completely dynamic character of the world than money. In a single |
| 1:29.3 | generation there's been a revolutionary expansion in the size and rate of financial transactions across the globe. |
| 1:35.0 | But today, money is in crisis, or at least we're in crisis about money. |
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