After the experience of reading about, learning about and discussing whether or not money is as important as we think, I have concluded that my opinion on money has not changed. Although this is true, researching the lives of the Yap made me realize how similar our monetary system is to theirs.
Being able to put something as obscure as bank accounts and money in digits into a literal example like the Yap’s money stones, made things a lot more sensible to me. When I heard the story of the Yap claiming a far away stone theirs but not having it actually made me laugh, because it sounded absolutely so ridiculous; especially because I put the two together and realized that is exactly how we live our lives. We can say all we want how much money we have but we don’t really actually have it in our hands, it’s more like to our name. Just like the stone was issued to the specific citizen of the Yap, money in the bank is issued to us.
I somewhat understand the idea of inflation in Brazil, and I remember learning about inflation in… history class in high school. But all I could think about was the Great Depression in the 1920’s, and how that was the only thing I can recall learning about that has to do with money in America that I found so interesting. How all it took were things like the Stock Market crashing and bank failures to cause that much financial downfall throughout the country for everyone. How money so easily influences almost everything in this world and no one ever stops to think about how corrupt it is; because when anyone does try to live outside the world of money, things usually turn for the worst. But what is anyone to do but to try and make the best of it, right?
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Dubitability 
I’m very happy to see this, Jodi! 😉
PLZ RPLY WIT FEEDBAG,
thank you,
Jodi,
.
NO FIRST PERSON <3. "Our wealth is less in our hands and more in our mouths." "Something as simple as a major bank faltering led to an economic depression for (amount of time)."
OK, Jodi, the procedure here is that I read your essay and comment on it as I go instead of studying it first and making general comments later. That way, I can let you know as a reader would whether I’m following your argument or not.
P1. As you know, on your rewrite you’ll be writing about the concepts of money, currency, and trade, not about how you feel about the concepts or how your thinking has changed. Milton Friedman managed to describe the flexibility of his (and our) attitude about other people’s currencies without ever saying “I had a change of heart.” You should reread his reflections if you need a reminder.
Also, you’re of course entitled to write an essay about “the importance of money,” but the class discussions and our focus here are not about whether a life lived in pursuit of purchasing power is a good and valuable life. This is not a moral essay. We’re interested here in the mechanics of trading value, whether that’s trading a cow for a bag of chips, or promising somebody a cow next year in return for eating his chips every day from now until then.
P2. You’re absolutely right to focus on the absurdity of the Yap system (and their faith in unseen stones on the ocean floor), Jodi. It’s ridiculous. But compared to a timeshare arrangement, which is the impossibly crazy concept that for two weeks every summer I “own” a condo in Puerto Vallarta that somebody else owned the day before I got there and which someone else will own the day I move out, the Yap seem quite sane. Be sure when you compare the two systems you use a tangible example to help your readers understand who’s crazier.
P3. You’re not obligated to address every available theme in this big general topic, Jodi. If you’re comfortable discussing inflation, by all means do. But if nobody’s ever explained it to you (and it certainly requires explanation), leave the topic to others. Find your own angle on the topic, choose something specific to write persuasively about, then use every bit of evidence available in all the source materials to convince us your thesis makes sense.
I was glad you touched upon “P3” because I was unsure if I should even bother mentioning another topic. The feedback was overall useful though, I really prefer thorough criticism as opposed to something short and simple.
Thorough is what I do best, Jodi.