How Money Forever Changed Us
June 24, 2020 by Lawrence Yeo
During my six years of elementary school, many fads came and went. But there was one fad I remember that not only took our school by storm, but schools all across the country as well. It grew so feverish that after a few months, schools had to actually ban this activity because too many students were getting obsessed with it. If you were an ‘80s or ‘90s kid, chances are you’ll remember it too. I’m referring to the infamous world of pogs:
It’s interesting how money is accepted as an inevitable force in our lives, yet when we take out the concept and wrap it in unfamiliar packaging, it seems weird and dumb.
To the school staff, the whole pogs phenomenon probably seemed silly because they couldn’t understand what could be so compelling about flipping over paper and metal discs. But they wouldn’t think twice at the thought of coming into an office everyday, flipping over documents, and depositing a bi-weekly paper check in a metal machine.
In essence, the kids were doing the same thing the adults were doing: they were accumulating value in the form of a communal good. But because it took the form of something unrecognizable, it was considered dumb rather than profound. In the eyes of the adults, pogs were shittily constructed paper discs that had no intrinsic value, and only held importance because the kids themselves thought they were.
Well, those kids could say the same thing about the way we regard our own currency as well.
The most fascinating thing about the pogs phenomenon is how closely it mirrors the story of money, and how that concept naturally manifested in children.
On one side you have paper, aluminum, and plastic discs that have no inherent value – they can’t be eaten, worn, or slept on. On their own, they’re useless. On the other side you have paper bills, metal coins, and digits on a screen that can’t be used as ends in themselves either. They’re just as useless.
Yet in both scenarios, a united story emerged that turned an intrinsically useless thing into the distributor of status, value, and prestige.
How in the world does this happen?
How does something with no intrinsic value become the universal determinant of value? And what are the implications this has on human behavior as a whole?
Discussions of money usually come with the implicit understanding that money is valuable, so they revolve around how one could accumulate more of it, or why it introduces all kinds of strange behaviors. But in this post, we’re going to take one step back and actually look at the concept of money itself: why we need it to represent value, how it impacts our goals, and how it reconstructs our idea of individuality.
This is a dive into the philosophy of money. It’s a look into humanity’s greatest idea, its greatest paradox, and the story that forever changed human behavior. Let’s begin.
Money and The Great Abstraction
Everything starts with the fact that money has no intrinsic value.
To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
Amarah Station Starts 3,000-Bpd Trial Oil Production
2026-11-04 Shafaq News- Baghdad Iraq’s state-owned Maysan Oil Company has begun trial production at the Amarah Gas Separation Station at an initial rate of 3,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), the Oil Ministry said on Wednesday. Company Director General Hussein Kadhim Luaibi said output would gradually rise to the station’s planned capacity of 8,000 bpd in the coming days, while improvements to production facilities and infrastructure would help sustain operations.
Billions On Paper. How Are Billionaires' Fortunes Measured And Why Are They Evaporated In Days?
Money and business Economy News - When headlines make headlines about Elon Musk losing $57 billion in a week, or the fortune of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin falling by about $56 billion combined in a few days, it seems like billions of dollars suddenly disappeared from their bank accounts.
In the world of great wealth, “loss” does not necessarily mean cash out, but often reflects a change in the market value of the assets they own.
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Gold fell back under $4,000 as AI stocks slid, and Adrian Day says that’s the metal doing its job. When markets crack, investors raise cash, and gold is one of the things they always sell.
“That’s exactly what you own gold for,” says the chairman and CEO of Adrian Day Asset Management. At the New Orleans Investment Conference, Day tells Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron he sees strong support near $3,650 and doesn’t expect a V-shaped recovery, but he remains “extremely bullish” on the fundamentals.
TIER 4B – ISO 20022: The First Sovereign Trade Between Two Nations Outside the Dollar System
11-4-2026
TIER 4B – ISO 20022
Telegram 11/3/2026
https://t.me/Tier4B_ISO20022
CONFIRMED: THE FIRST SOVEREIGN TRADE BETWEEN TWO NATIONS SETTLED OUTSIDE THE DOLLAR SYSTEM THIS MORNING
A sovereign trade coordination office sent an internal settlement confirmation through the encrypted channel at 11:33 EST.
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Baghdad - One News - 11/04/2026 International relations expert Dr. Hilal Al-Obaidi warned against the continued connection of armed factions with Iran, stressing that these factions are ideologically linked to the Iranian regime and will carry out any orders issued to them from Tehran in the event of a new military confrontation in the region.
Ariel: The Clock is Winding Down on Iraq
11-4-2026
The Clock Is Winding Down On The Regime:
Every revaluation in history the deutsche mark 1948, the ruble 1998, the Argentine convertibility plan, the Vietnamese dong had one thing in common. The fiscal authority had to stop creating a second, competing exchange rate. Budgets don’t move the rate. Budgets determine whether the rate can be unified.
This isn’t a spending vote. It’s a rate-numerator vote. Iraq’s problem has never been the quantity of dinar in circulation it’s the existence of two prices for the same currency.
Note: All intel should be considered as "Rumors" until we receive official announcements ...and “Rates and Dates” could change anytime until we get to the banks/redemption centers.
RV Excerpts from the Restored Republic via a GCR Update as of Wed. 4 Nov. 2026
Compiled Wed. 4 Nov. 2026 12:01 am EST by Judy Byington
FRI. 30 OCT 2026 — THE GCR PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT …John F. Kennedy Jr. on Telegram Tues. 3 Nov. 2026
• The Global Currency Reset (allegedly) moves from “logged” to “announced.” Not leaked. Not rumored. Announced. The rates are(allegedly) published. The rates are (allegedly) final
Reset Intelligence: Iraq Puts Its Budget to a Vote.
By Reset Intelligence | @EXIT_FIAT
Iraq's cabinet is reported to be meeting in an extraordinary session on Saturday with one item on the table: the 2027 budget. A source inside the governing alliance says it could slip to early next week. It is the first full budget Iraq has put to a vote since 2023.
In early September the government promised a vote within the month and a deficit no bigger than 3%. The bill arrives 2 months late. Its deficit is reported near a fifth of everything it spends, and it converts oil dollars at 1,500, the rate the Central Bank has used since October 7.
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Brent futures fell 26 cents, or 0.25%, to $103.34 a barrel by 0157 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 53 cents, or 0.55%, to $95.56.
Good Morning Dinar Recaps,
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whitehatauxiliaries September 14, 2026
Greetings, once again, citizens:
One quarter of the Century has passed and we have witnessed some significant technological transformations. From self-driving cars to self-landing rocket stages, to instant financial transfers, to Only Fans burlesque… the way in which we do things, from the important to the licentious of pursuits, has changed in significant ways.
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Liberty and Finance: 11-3-2026
Andy Schectman returns to Liberty and Finance to explain why the recent plunge in gold and silver prices may be hiding a much bigger shift in the global financial system.
Despite gold falling below $4,000 and silver below $50, physical deliveries on COMEX continue at extraordinary levels, while central banks and major institutions accumulate precious metals.
TNT:
Tishwash: The Iraqi government will hold an extraordinary session on Saturday to vote on the 2027 budget.
A government source reported on Tuesday that the Iraqi cabinet will hold an extraordinary session next Saturday, chaired by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, to vote on the draft general budget law for 2027.
The source told Shafaq News Agency that the session will be dedicated to voting on the draft budget, in preparation for sending it to the House of Representatives for a vote before the end of this year.
The Ministry of Finance had referred the draft 2027 budget law to the Ministerial Council for the Economy on September 27, after completing its preparation stages, before the Council approved it and referred it to the Cabinet.
"An Extraordinary Session To Finalize The 2027 Budget"...
The Al-Zidi government is preparing to vote on the draft budget next Saturday in preparation for sending it to Parliament before the end of the year
Baghdad - One News - 11/03/2026 A government source reported that the Cabinet will hold an extraordinary session next Saturday, chaired by Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi, to vote on the draft federal general budget law for 2027, in preparation for referring it to the House of Representatives for approval before the end of this year.
TNT:
Tishwash: 100 trillion dinars are circulating outside banks, and Iraqis continue to prefer cash.
Indicators from the Central Bank of Iraq showed a continued rise in the volume of currency circulating outside the banking system, reaching about 100.183 trillion dinars at the end of August 2026, despite recording a decline compared to the previous month.
According to data seen by Shafaq News Agency, the currency outside banks decreased from 100.792 trillion dinars at the end of last July to 100.183 trillion dinars at the end of August, a decrease of 609 billion dinars.
The data indicated that the total currency issued amounted to 107.998 trillion dinars at the end of August, while the currency held by banks amounted to 7.815 trillion dinars, with funds circulating outside banks constituting about 92.8% of the total currency issued.