| |
[562-7] Clay: Gold and silver are not by nature money because they are commodities
themselves. Labor is necessary to extract the metals and therefore the
metals have value. Because gold and silver are divisable and can be
re-smelted to represent any use-value. When money (paper or coin) is
introduced there must be some “backing” to the money, without the backing it
is just a worthless piece of paper. This is especially true in Marx's time
where all money was backed by gold or silver. This “backing” makes money by
nature gold and silver. Money by nature is an abstraction that only held (in
Marx's time) value because it was backed by gold and silver. Gold and
silver by nature are minerals that once extracted they become commodities
that can be exchanged. Because they are used as the “backing” for all
money, money by nature is gold and silver. Gold and silver can't by nature
be money because they are just minerals that have unique properties
therefore they function as the money commodity. |
|