Selected Readings

The beginning of chapter 3 in Who Owns The Future begins with a very interesting point on money and how even in ancient times it was necessary to create some sort of concrete counter or storage asset. Nowadays money takes on a different use or purpose, especially with no need to carry it around anymore with plastic credit cards or cell phone apps that can make payments through banks. This is why it is possible for banks to fall apart when people don't pay their mortgages back. Banks are selling assets that are partially made of the future intents of borrowers. When borrowers do something other than promised, those assets no longer exist. The problem with this is that it affects a lot more people than those borrowers think by not paying back loans. I really enjoyed the economy cosmology comparison and how an expanding market is just like an expanding universe. The author notes that growth is necessary in any healthy market and that it doesn't have to come at the expense of the environment.