The Saturday Food Chain with Michael Olson- January 19th 2013- Who Should Determine the Value of Food?

Stream Live from our website:
Download from our website: Download this Podcast here

Who Should Determine The Value of Food?

••••
It does not take much imagination to look back to the dawn of human-kind to see that food was our first money.  I want that stone axe you made and will pay for it with this venison I killed.  Deal?
•••
Though we now live in the most modern of times, when the electronic gadgets of science fiction have become more familiar to us than ears of garden-fresh sweet corn, food is still real money.
•••
We sometimes lose track of real money, and come to think the paper certificates governments print by the trillions is real money.  But unless those government certificates are guaranteed by something real, like gold or food, they are not real money, they are simply government certificates.
•••••••••
Sometimes governments get carried away with their ability to print certificates.  When that happens, the ability of those certificates to buy real things, like food, is diminished in direct proportion to the speed at which governments print their certificates.  As printng certificates is very easy for governments to do, sometimes they simply print too many, and things get out of hand…
•••••••••
In 1923, one loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 German Marks.

•••••
Now, that 1923 loaf of bread was not worth any more, or less, than a 2013 loaf of bread.  What is different is the value of the German Mark.
•••••••
That food is real and government certificates may not be real, is a major problem for governments that like to print certificates by the trillions.  This problem leads us to ask…
•••••••
Who should determine the value of food?