My brother and I were talking the other day about the reasons why the Canadian dollar is more valuable than the US dollar. We got to talking about why the US Dollar should be worth more, because it would be like the question "Which would you rather have, a Wal*Mart dollar or a Circuit City dollar?" Most people would say, "Of course a Wal*Mart dollar, because you can buy more at that store than you could at a Circuit City." We then got to talking about what would happen if Wal*Mart started issuing their own currency. Would it be worth more or less than the US Dollar? First of all, I think it would be foolish to assume that it would be worth anywhere equal to the US dollar, because you can buy much more with the US dollar. For example, you could not buy a BMW with Wal*Mart dollars, because they do not sell that at their stores. You also could not buy an oil company, or, say, a lumber mill. But then I also got to thinking about how the US dollar is not on the gold standard since something like 1973, so essentially, people are trading it based on faith that the US government won't fuck up so completely and royally that people would stop trusting that it has any value whatsoever. Wal*Mart dollars, on the other hand, would be at least based on the goods you could buy with it, so long as it is still in business. Plus, isn't Wal*Mart's profit much larger than the GDP of some 3rd world nations, and even some US states? We also talked about what would happen on the first day that Wal*Mart started offering their currency. Would banks suddenly see a huge withdraw from just about every personal or checking account? What would that do to the economy? It could also be a great way for Wal*Mart to rake in even MORE money, as some people would be buying their currency even if they don't need it right away. If Wal*Mart started offering their currency at $1.25 for every US Dollar, and made it so the exchange rate going back to the US dollar was $1 for $1, would you buy Wal*Mart dollars?
Yes, interesting. It's only a matter time before these megacorporations begin to take on the features of governments.
Nobody goes to those anymore. Super Wal-mart made it easy to spend your food stamps all in one place!
Depends how real. If enough places started accepting Wal*Mart dollars, say, the small businesses surrounding a Wal*Mart in a couple hundred locations, you can bet the Fed will get the Feds to shut them down, killing the currency operation if Wal*Mart is lucky, shutting them down completely if it's not.
Ahh. Shadowrun. Fascinating role playing game where corporations pretty much rule the world. The Mega-corps have their own currency, extra-territorality and often their own enclaves where people live their entire lives. Fun game...very disturbing concepts. Wal-Mart gets closer to being a MegaCorp all the time.
There are some other currencies out there as well. Pussycat dollars Pink Bucks Dollhouse Dollars And so on. You get my drift. Traded in exchange for greenbacks, and only valid at the establishment of purchase.
It doesn't work that way. Your reasoning would be correct if the US and Canada both had the same amount of their respective dollars. However while the US has a much larger GDP it also has a lot more dollars in circulation.
No, it doesn't work exactly that way, but the analogy still stands. A country with a strong economy, a good industrial base, and can sell a variety of goods will have a stronger dollar than one that does not have those things. Of course, like you mentioned, population, amount of in circulation will also contribute to it's value. That's just from 1st year Econ class. Take the USA and clone it, but then remove Wal*Mart, Exxon, Microsoft, Google, McDonald's, and other fortune 500 companies from one of them, and tell me which dollar would most people prefer?
Hey, imagine if you worked for walmart and then got payed in walmart dollars? That is the way the old mines and mills used to do things. You had to spend your chits at the company stores.
So long as the coins are made by children with tiny hands in sweat shops all across Asia. Otherwise it just wouldn't be worth it.
I was looking through my Sam's Club member's guide last weekend, and they'll buy you a the new car of your choice, at a discount, and deliver it to your home.
