Money has value in so much as people think it has value, and this belief is widely dependent on another belief of whether there is enough of a homogenized belief among other people you will come across to see it as valuable.
The description of the gold bar in the bank seems to indicate that tradition value might have been trimmed off the in ensuing cataclysm. It’s like in a war torn country, why would you trade something for paper money when the next person you come across might not give you his food when try to buy it off of him? The government that backs it is gone, the banks where you can store it and trade for some other financial services are gone, and most surviving people have been reduced to being focused on their immediate short term survival.
In face of the temporary loss of confidence of paper currency, there is an additional factor that money itself has lost value. For example, even if you give someone a gold bar for instance or a hundred thousand dollars in cash, they might not be willing to part with the few cans of food he has if it means an additional risk to his own life in going into a city for food again.
This should only be temporary though.[/quote]
Well ya know…We could all trade in bottlecaps if that floats ya boat
