When were credit cards invented? The first use of the phrase “credit card” was in 1887. A credit card is a system whereby a customer can pay for goods using a line of credit from the credit card provider. The credit card provider basically pays for the goods upfront, and the customer reimburses the credit […]
#349 When were credit cards invented? Read More »
Why are diamonds so expensive? Because we believe they should be expensive, not because they are rare. We think that diamonds are expensive because they are rare, but they are not as rare as we think. Diamond is a structure made of carbon atoms that are arranged in a crystal structure. Diamond is one of
#336 Why are diamonds so expensive? Read More »
When was the penny first used? The first coin to be called a penny was in 790, but the word meant “all money” and not just one coin. There are several currencies across the world that use “penny” for their smallest coin. In the UK there is a one penny coin. In the United States
#334 When was the penny first used? Read More »
What is a central bank? It is an institution that manages the currency of a country and controls the supply of money. Nearly every country has a central bank. It is sometimes called a reserve bank. There are nine countries that don’t have one. They are Andorra, Isle of Man, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco,
#327 What is a central bank? Read More »
I learned this today. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a universal classification system which has the most important needs at the bottom and then the following needs in an ascending order of importance. Maslow was an American psychologist. He worked from the early 1930s until his death in 1970. He published his hierarchy of needs
#191 What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Read More »
I learned this today. The UK finished paying its World War 2 debt on 29th December 2006 and its World War 1 debt on 9 March 2015. Fighting World War 1 and World War 2 cost the UK a lot more than they could have imagined. Even though they had an empire, they didn’t have
#169 When did the UK finish paying its World War 1 and 2 debts? Read More »
I learned this today. A society without money is not only possible, it is probably the best way that society will survive the rise of automation and AI. Money has been with us for about 5,000 years and our entire society is based on money. The majority of our time is spent trying to earn
#117 Could a society without money work? Read More »
I learned this today. The Malthusian theory of population doesn’t apply today because we can basically produce more food than was previously possible. Thomas Malthus lived from 1766 to 1834 and he was an English cleric, scholar, and economist. Malthus did a lot of work, but he is primarily remembered for the theory on population
#110 Why doesn’t the Malthusian theory of population apply today? Read More »
I learned this today. Wire fraud and mail fraud are federal crimes in the United States that concern transferring something connected to fraud by mail, email, phone, radio, or television. To be guilty of wire fraud, somebody must have “voluntarily and intentionally devised or participated in a scheme to defraud another out of money” and
#97 What are mail fraud and wire fraud? Read More »
The first ever money was the Mesopotamian shekel, used about 5,000 years ago. Before we had money, people used the bartering system. Bartering probably started when hunter-gatherers began to form larger groups. When hunter-gatherers were in small groups, they could service all of their own needs. They only needed food, clothing, and shelter. Once the
#85 When did people start using money? Read More »
