Questioning Money

Hi All,Here in the US, we think that we can use dollars for everything. Since the USD is the strongest currency in the world, can't we use it for both spending and saving? Most of the world doesn't work this way. When you have a currency in a developing country that doesn't hold value well, you can't store wealth over time in that currency. People in these countries have a multi-currency mindset. They spend in the local currency but try to save in US dollars, since dollars hold value better. Us though? We only think in dollars. Yet we intuitively know that we can't just save money by keeping it in the bank. We need to ‘make our money' grow, right? So we invest it. Well - investing and saving are not the same thing. And this turns out to have consequences. Take a listen to learn about how American saving has become financialized, and why people in the US need to start adopting a multi-currency mindset. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi,Most of us have heard the expression that time is money. When people say that, they're saying that their time is valuable so you should probably stop wasting it. The expression is backwards though. It's not that time is money. It's really that money is time. What do I mean? Money is how we store time. When you work for 8 hours, you have converted your labor into that pay. You are storing the time you spent in the form of money. Our modern system of money messes this up though. This one is a little bit cosmic. Buckle up.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi,As the world has become increasingly digital, so too will our money. You may have heard of regions like China and Europe are considering launching digital currencies, but what does that mean? What's the difference between a digital currency and the debit/credit card banking system we have today?Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are the next evolution that our monetary system will take and they present numerous possibilities for the future of finance. Not all of what CBDC's have to offer is good though…If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,If there is one thing that's clear about 2020, it's that our institutions are failing. Why though? The answer is not the tired left vs right dynamics that usually get thrown around in our political discussions. It's much more fundamental than that. Simply put, our institutions are unable to adapt to a changing world. In order words - they don't scale.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,We all know that we use paper money today. Most of us probably think that paper currency is part of the natural evolution of how money has developed. That's not true though. It turns out, paper money has been around a lot longer than you may think. It's just never worked before.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,People love to criticize companies that buy back a lot of their own stock. If a company has to declare bankruptcy during a recession because they depleted their cash reserves by buying back too much stock, then why should that company be bailed out? It's certainly fair to a degree.But why do these companies buy back so much stock in the first place? Why do they feel the need to? That's the topic for today.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about the minimum wage, an issue where the arguments from both sides miss the main point.I'll let the newsletter itself do most of the talking for this one. All I'll say is that I won't make most of the claims that you normally hear when this topic comes up in conversation.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about Bitcoin.To those who don't think about how money works, Bitcoin might not make a lot of sense. Why would we need some weird internet money? Bitcoin is different though. It's something that has never existed before - a non-sovereign, decentralized, global, and natively digital store of value. The concept can be difficult to comprehend. So what actually is Bitcoin? What are it's properties? What's the point? That's the topic for todayIf you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean**There is one error in the audio newsletter - there are 100 million satoshis in a Bitcoin, not 80 million as I said. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is a history episode. When we think about ancient Rome, we usually talk about the advancements the Romans made in architecture, literature, and science. As always, the role of money gets forgotten. Without a strong currency, Rome would not have been able to develop into the empire it became. Remember - money is the base layer which all civilizations are built on top of. All great societies throughout history have one thing in common - a strong currency for the time. The fall of the Roman Empire can be traced to its money as well. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Sean This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,It can be daunting to consider just how much of our personal data is being revealed with every action we do. Every location we go, good we buy, or website we view reveals information about us that was once considered personal and private. Yet the consensus opinion seems to be that it's too late to fix this, that there are no meaningful ways we can protect ourselves and our data.That is not true.Today's newsletter is a beginner's guide, detailing three of the most basic actions one can take to considerably improve their information privacy.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All, We all know that prices rise over time. Even though that's true, prices don't rise evenly. Over the last 50 or so years we've seen that the price of many goods has fallen while other important sectors in the economy such as healthcare and college tuition have gotten significant more expensive? Why does that happen? Why do those things get more expensive while other things get cheaper? And how does that relate to our system of money? If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,We live in an age where there is constant warfare going on. It's gotten to a point where we are used to having US troops stationed in countries around the world even though most of us don't really know why they're there.Believe it or not, this is only possible because of how our system of money works. Wars don't end anymore, and it's because of the money. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue about congressional gridlock. Over the last decade or so, it feels like nothing gets passed by congress. The two sides have never been further apart. It's frustrating when your political party has the president in office, yet nothing gets done. I'm here to say that this is a good thing. When the country is as divided as it is, nothing SHOULD get passed.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about ups and downs in an economy. It's natural to fret about the idea of recession. In a recession, people lose their jobs, stocks lose value, and general quality of life goes down. Nobody wants recession. Still - recessions actually serve a purpose in a healthy economy and are necessary in order to keep an economy healthy into the future. Over the last decade or so, there has been a subtle change in the way we think about recessions. Instead of letting recessions happen, now we are in a world where the goal is to prevent recession at all costs. So why are recessions good for an economy? And how has the shift in how we manage recession going to affect the economy moving forward?If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today I'm going to talk about gold. We all know what gold is and we know that it's been valuable for a long time. But why would we care about gold in 2020? Haven't we evolved past caring about some shiny metal that we dig out of the ground? Well, it's not that simple. There are a few reasons why gold is valuable, even today. In fact, gold fulfills some properties of money even better than the dollar does.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about how we got the employer-sponsored healthcare system that we have today. It's interesting - we debate the concepts of private vs public health insurance, but private health insurance today is nothing like other types of insurance, such as auto insurance. How did our healthcare system become so intertwined with employment in the first place? If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Debt is a natural part of any economy. Debt and credit gives individuals and businesses access to capital so that they can invest in themselves and expand. This encourages growth and innovation. But the debt in the U.S. has been growing over the last 50 years and debt growth has been near exponential over the last 15. The economy has adapted to this in turn. We are now in a place where the economy needs an ever increasing amount of debt to survive. It's worth discussing exactly how this works. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Welcome to Questioning Money - an audio newsletter that takes a closer look into how money works and how systems of money affect the world around us, often in ways we don't realize. Today's newsletter issue is about the idea of saving money. Most of us have been taught that it's good to save money in the bank. The reality, however, is that our system of money doesn't let you do that. More than ever, if you save money in the bank you fall behind. There's a broken inventive at play, forcing us to either spend our money or invest it.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about why a form of money will always naturally develop. In pre-money societies, systems of barter never lasted long. In fact, there are no records of any societies that operated entirely on a barter economy. That doesn't mean barter didn't exist though - it did, barter as the dominant method of exchange just never lasted very long. But how does a new form of money start? How do you get from barter to money? If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about the U.S. dollar's role as the global reserve currency . Being the global reserve currency gives the U.S. tremendous power in influencing international trade. On the domestic front, being the global reserve currency also gives our government monetary and fiscal policy options that are not available to less demanded currencies. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at questioningmoney@tuta.io.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue is about the history of money. While the history of money is both lengthy and complicated, it's still useful to have a basic understanding of how money developed and progressed throughout history.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue talks about printing money. As talks about the sizes of the COVID-19 stimulus packages continue, it is becoming increasingly common to wonder why we can't print as much money as we want - either to fund stimulus or to accomplish other policy goals. The reason why is because printing more money doesn't actually buy more things. That idea can be hard to wrap your head around. Let's talk about it. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi All,Today's newsletter issue discusses how money drives inequality. The growth in inequality over the last 50 years has been driven by certain characteristics of how our system of money functions. These characteristics are inherent to the system and can't simply be legislated away. In order to fix the growing gap between the top and the bottom, we need to understand why the gap is growing to begin with. And that starts with the money.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi,Welcome to the first issue of Questioning Money - an audio newsletter that takes a closer look into how money works and how systems of money affect the world around us, often in ways we don't realize. This first issue provides a backdrop for why I am making this newsletter and lets you know what you can expect from Questioning Money on a weekly basis. If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com

Hi,Welcome to Questioning Money. This issue discusses what money actually is and how our current system of money works. I cover what functions a form of money is supposed to fill, before detailing the process in which new money is created in our modern system. It's important to have this base understanding of how money works before we can discuss in future newsletters the effects that our system of money has on our society.If you like the newsletter - please subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter @seancover.Thanks for listening!Seanhttps://twitter.com/seancover This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit questioningmoney.substack.com