What did people use to buy things before money was invented? Where is money made? Find out in this inviting book that informs readers about coins, paper money, the Federal Reserve, exchange rates, and checking accounts. Featuring a timeline of moneys history, detailed photos, stimulating facts, clear, informational text, and a glossary that will assist in improving vocabulary, readers will be stimulated from cover to cover.
AARP Digital Editions offer you practical tips, proven solutions, and expert guidance. Do you speak money? You should. It is the world’s most important language. It’s spoken everywhere. Speaking—or at least understanding—this language allows you to follow the real conversations in politics, business, and at work. Understanding money and speaking the language fluently is critical to preparing for a comfortable retirement, building a small business, planning for college and a career for your children. Everyone speaks it differently, with different dialects. Some are riskier than others. Some want to save their money; others want to see it grow. There is no one accent, but understanding the differences will make couples, business partners, and coworkers happier—and wealthier. Authors and CNN financial experts Ali Velshi and Christine Romans speak the global language of money and translate it every day for hundreds of thousands of viewers. And they are here to teach you, too. It’s easier to learn than you might think. Speaking money affects every area of your life. It’s more than simply your savings or the investments you may have. It involves the way you think about money, the way you teach your children about it, and the way you were taught about it yourself. It’s about the way you spend it, save it, invest it, use it, need it and want it. The book will: Shed light on the male and female spending and investing disparity Discuss emerging international economies Weigh the financial hurdle of student debt culminating in a successful job Explain how to budget wisely and build wealth Show how to plan appropriately for retirement How to Speak Money is an easy-to-read, practical book that helps readers become fluent in the world’s most universal language.
Benny Lewis, who speaks over ten languages—all self-taught—runs the largest language-learning blog in the world, Fluent In 3 Months. Lewis is a full-time "language hacker," someone who devotes all of his time to finding better, faster, and more efficient ways to learn languages. Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World is a new blueprint for fast language learning. Lewis argues that you don't need a great memory or "the language gene" to learn a language quickly, and debunks a number of long-held beliefs, such as adults not being as good of language learners as children.
What is money, and how does it work? In this tour de force of political, cultural, and economic history, Felix Martin challenges nothing less than our conventional understanding of one of humankind’s greatest inventions. Martin describes how the Western idea of money emerged in the ancient world, and was shaped over the centuries by tensions between sovereigns and the emerging middle classes. Money, he argues, has always been an intensely political instrument, and that it is our failure to remember this that led to the crisis in our financial system and the Great Recession. He concludes with practical solutions for making money serve us—and, in an introduction and epilogue new to this edition, a discussion of what Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies mean for money's future. From John Locke to Montesquieu, from Sparta to the Soviet Union, Money is a far-ranging and magisterial work of history and economics, with profound implications for the world today.
From ancient currency to Adam Smith, from the gold standard to shadow banking and the Great Recession: a sweeping historical epic that traces the development and evolution of one of humankind’s greatest inventions. What is money, and how does it work? In this tour de force of political, cultural and economic history, Felix Martin challenges nothing less than our conventional understanding of money. He describes how the Western idea of money emerged from interactions between Mesopotamia and ancient Greece and was shaped over the centuries by tensions between sovereigns and the emerging middle classes. He explores the extraordinary diversity of the world’s monetary systems, from the Pacific island of Yap, where value was once measured by immovable stones, to the currency of today that exists solely on globally connected computer screens. Martin shows that money has always been a deeply political instrument, and that it is our failure to remember this that led to the crisis in our financial system and so to the Great Recession. He concludes with practical solutions to our current pressing, money-based problems. Money skips nimbly among such far-ranging topics as John Locke’s disastrous excursion into economic policy, Montesquieu’s faith in finance to discipline the power of kings, the social organization of ancient Sparta and the Soviet Union’s ill-fated attempt to abolish money and banking altogether. Throughout, Martin makes vivid sense of a chaotic and sometimes incoherent system—the everyday currency that we all share—in the clearest and most stimulating terms. This is a magisterial work of history and economics, with profound implications for the world today.
From Revolutionary-era bank notes and stock and bond trading during the Civil War to the invention of modern mortgages and the 2008 financial collapse, Capital of Capital explores how New York City gave rise to a banking industry that in turn made the American and worldÕs economy. In addition to exploring the frequently contentious evolution of the banking industry, the book examines the role of banks in making New York City an international economic center and its influence on AmericaÕs economy, politics, society, and culture. Based on a major exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, Capital of Capital profiles the key leaders and critics of banking, such as Alexander Hamilton, the Rockefellers, and the Occupy Wall Street protesters. The book also covers the key events and controversies that have shaped the history of banking and includes a fascinating array of primary materials ranging from speeches and political documents to advertisements and journalistic accounts. Lavishly illustrated, Capital of Capital provides a multifaceted, original understanding of the profound impact of banking on the life of New York City and the worldÕs economy.
Chronicles the lives of three colorful counterfeiters whose schemes reflected the culture of early America, describing their backgrounds and how they exploited period politics, economics and law enforcement to promote their operations.