What is money?

Given all this talk about meeting needs and becoming a capitalist, I would be remiss if we didn't attempt at least a cursory definition of money.

Money at it's heart is a store of value. In our perfect world, one could suppose it represented a stable store of value. Reality tells us otherwise. In our world today, most would pick up a dollar or euro and consider it money. This is fiat currency - meaning it's value has been declared by some authority. In the case of the dollar or euro, it's been declared by the central government. These bills represents debt. US Dollars are really IOU's - not by the US government, but by you. Promises that you will (or more specifically your children) pay back what has been borrowed. Modern finance revolves around a world of so-called experts, central banks, and government authority. It's really a fragile and thin system based ultimately on trust. You do trust your government don't you? Remember the power is always from the people. Someday, the US Dollar will be worthless. It will go the way of all the fiat currencies have gone before. I don't think I've unearthed any big surprises here for most readers.