How to know if money is real

Or an quote from Ayn Rand might answer the question much more concisely.

"Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion--when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing--when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors--when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you--when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice--you may know that your society is doomed."

Quote from Roark:

The same concern arises with stocks and commodities. How do you know the keeper actually has the shares that they're selling? Selling shares you don't own and haven't borrowed is called naked shorting.
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"Trading on margin is a good deal like paddling around the edge of the old swimming hole—it seems safe and easy at first, but before a fellow knows it he has stepped off the edge into deep water. The wheat pit is only thirty feet across, but it reaches clear down to Hell. And trading on margin means trading on the ragged edge of nothing. When a man buys, he’s buying something that the other fellow hasn’t got. When a man sells, he’s selling something that he hasn’t got. "

From Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son by George Horace Lorimer
 
You mean if the crackwhore accepts payment?

I can tell you how the government handles electronic cash. It is simply a legal arrangement among congress, the treasury, and various agencies. The agencies are given a number, their spending limit, and then a particular person at an agency who been given a special warrent to issue checks or electronic payments will spend the money as the agency directs until it is gone. If the check writer spends too much- they can go to jail.
 
Quote from NoDoji:

If you're in Brazil, the money is most likely real.
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Ok now I have green tea spluttered all over my monitors. Thank you for a good laugh :p .

BRL. Pffffftttt.
 
Quote from Panlipsonam:

No money is real in an absolute sense, it's a symbol for desire, and the level of desire sets the price.
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I think the question is more like -- if you buy a stock, you can demand a certificate with a serial number and know you own x% of a company, and you can check that the company exist and have offices. If you have $1 in your bank, what do you own? Sure you can withdraw it and get a bill with a serial number, but what if you don't? Most people don't withdraw which is a problem when it is too late to withdraw.
 
This thread reminds me of an FBI buddy. After a HUGE drug bust, he and 5 other FBI/DEA guys had to count 2.5 Million in 5's 10's and 20's in the locked down parking garage of a big bank.
Took them 10 hrs, cuz they had to do it twice, AND confirm each bill was NOT counterfeit. LOL
 
Quote from Lucias:

How do you know if money is real? I'm talking about digital money. It seems to me its just a number made up.

Who is the keeper of the number? Can a foreign firm "print" money, i.e counterfeit, in the computer? Why do we trust the keeper?
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Money is just as made up as anything that humans make. It's just as real as anything made up by humans, like numbers, planes, doctors, and playgrounds. Humans assign values which they make up based on a general consensus of what the value should be.

Any kind of money is just like a market price, made up by the participants. Outside the participants it means nothing. If everyone participates (as in the case of money), then it's as 'real' as real can be.
 
real $ is stored in your bedroom, linen closets and suitcases.

all the rest is just digital.

$200M et al.

when you have this much, pack some heat.

s
 

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