"Money - in the traditional sense no longer exists. It died two decades ago when Richard Nixon forever abolished the gold standard. Since then, money as we once knew it has been replaced by an unstable new global medium of exchange that is called 'megabyte money'... megabyte money is a threat not only to our country's long-term growth and prosperity, but to the individual as well."

- Joel Kurtzman, The Death Of Money, 1993

Economy when it was first started was a seedling in a field. Poor and helpless to the environment. As this seedling grows, it becomes stronger and greater as a whole. The great Red Oak that the we as mankind has let it grow up to be is one of the greatest powers driving this planet. This Tree has become the nation's immense forest and the forest keeps on growing with no end in sight. The thing that makes the economic tree so great, is currency. As America moves into the twenty firsts century at a rapid pace, the currency and economy is moving right along with it. As technology advances more and more the way that Americans pay for things has also changed. Americans are carrying less and less cash to the stores, but more credi

In twelve hundred BC cowries were first used. This was the shell of a mollusk that was widely available in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was in China. Historically, many societies have used cowries as money, and even as recently as the middle of this century, cowries have been used in some parts of Africa. The cowrie is the most widely and longest used currency in history. By the time 1000 BC bronze and copper cowrie imitations were manufactured by China at the end of the Stone Age and could be considered some of the earliest forms of metal coins. Metal tool money, such as knife and spade monies, was also first used in China. These early metal monies developed into primitive versions of round coins. Chinese coins were made out of base metals, often containing holes so they could be put together like a chain.

Today's currency comes is going over a new make over. The United States quarters are one of the coins that is receiving a face-lift. To commemorate the fifty states the United States is coining a new quarter for each state every ten weeks. In 1999, the Mint issued: Connecticut (the Charter Oak); Delaware (Caesar Rodney on horseback); Georgia (state outline, peach, live oak sprigs); New Jersey (painting of Washington Crossing Delaware); and Pennsylvania (state outline, allegorical female figure, keystone). A new quarter will be coming out every year until the year 2008. Other Bills like the ten, twenty, fifty, and the hundred dollar bills are beginning modified too. They are getting a bigger portrait and receiving a watermark. This will make it harder to counterfeit and trade illegally. The newest change to the United States currency has been the two thousand, dollar coin. This coin is a golden color and has Sacagawea on it. Sacagawea was the Shoshoni Indian woman who helped guide the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the northwest. This coin is similar to the Susan B. Anthony dollar that was stopped from making because many got it confused with quarters. With all these changes in the currency, the fact still remains that ninety percent of all currency does not exists.

As the economic tree keeps on growing and the forest keeps on spreading to greater reaches of the earth. The country as we know it will never be the same. The technological advances that have been made, will continue far into the next century. Mankind started out with rocks and stones, but now the human race is paying for everything using wires and credit cards. In the next century how far will this technology grow and where will it lead us? No matter what form currency will take the next century, whether it is gold, paper or plastic, the economic tree will not stop growing.

In 118 BC leather money was used in China in the form of one-foot-square pieces of white deerskin with colorful borders. This could be considered the first documented type of banknote. However it wasn't till 806 AD till the first paper bank notes appeared in China. In all, China experienced over 500 years of early paper money, spanning from the ninth through the fifteenth century. Over this period, paper notes grew in production to the point that their value rapidly depreciated and inflation soared. Then beginning in 1455, the use of paper money in China disappeared for several hundred years. This was still many years before paper currency would reappear in Europe, and three centuries before it was considered common.

However some didn't have access to cowries this lead to the domestication of cattle. This was used from nine thousand to six thousand BC. Cattle, which include anything from cows, to sheep, to camels, are the first and oldest forms of money. With the advent of agriculture came the use of grain and other vegetable or plant products as a standard form of barter in many. This system however ran into some flaws when there was no set standard on how much anything was worth.

The next thing that came out was the credit card. A cred

Some common words found in the essay are:
Susan Anthony, Red Oak, San Francisco, Japan Europe, Stone Age, Inside UPC, China China, Standard Act, Bio-Chip ET, York City, credit card, cashless society, smart cards, bank notes, gold standard, economic tree, chinese coins, credit cards, smart card, base metals, china metal monies, metal monies developed, knife spade monies, spade monies china, monies china metal,
Approximate Word count = 2888
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)