Goods and services are no longer purchased with other goods and services (barter), or gold or silver (early money economy)
We use paper Ågfiduciary moniesÅh or credit instruments
These instruments are represented by paper, plastic, or metallic tokens
Checks, bank notes, government issues
A credit card is a written promise to pay
They are fully functional forms of money with an exchange value rated in terms of the basic unit of money (usually a fixed quantity of gold or silver)
These are offset against each other in the banking system, so little gold or silver needs to be transferred
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