As I have said often enough on this site, Bank (Deficit) Money bears the same relationship to Value as anti-Matter does to Matter. It is an IOU or a "claim over Value".
Bank money is a promise from the bank to clear a payment provided you have been credited with a sufficient amount in the correct account. Provided they fulfill that promise, it functions as a medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account, and standard of deferred payment.
Its a good thing that it is not valuable in its own right, but instead is valuable, as with any other financial asset which is a liability of another party, to the extent that the other party fulfills its promise. Having intrinsic value would interfere with its functioning as money. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
The existence of this is a very large part of "the problem".
My point is that banks as credit intermediaries are simply unnecessary, when an alternative monetary system comprises:
(a) a barter network; (b) bilateral credit, with a mutual guarantee, backed by a default fund; (c) a "Value Unit", (d) a Credit Manager formerly known as a Bank - as service provider.
Money is a relationship, not an object. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
Of course money is a relation, not an object. Social institutions are not objects, even when they feel like objects in use. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
But the point is that "Money" is not in fact a "thing".
A Value Unit is abstract, and is a necessary part of the Money relationship.
A Value Unit is a "Unit of account" and also a "Medium of Exchange".
As for "standard of deferred contract payment", yes, a monetary system exists to split barter transactions over time.
But a "Store of Value"? Conventional interest-bearing money operates in this way, of course.
But in reality, definitely not. A "Store of Value" is what "Capital" is all about. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
