 Originally Posted by krakenslayer
I think the idea that a money system was introduced comes from that fact that old-style, pre-outbreak money would have almost completely lost its value during the fall of civilisation. Old-style money would be incredibly easy to come across, you could just walk into an abandoned bank and help yourself, like Peter and Roger did in Dawn. The surviving settlements may have had to agree on a new currency that wasn't compromised like the old dollar. However, if such a thing did happen, then the new dollar must look superficially similar to the old because the money seen in the movie does look like modern currency.
Your idea here does not make much sense, for several reasons. For one, with a horrible death-by-zed figuratively and literally lurking around every corner, do you really think establishing a new monetary system would be at the top of the list of things to do for survivors? Or more accurately, at the top of the list of things to do for COMPETENT, likely-to-survive survivors? "I think we should fortify our position, search for new weapons, and try to figure out a way to obtain food other than raiding old stores". "Naw, I think it is more important to find a printing press, determine how much paper money is needed to run a cash society, complete with people being separated by class. That will ensure our survival more than your 'look for food' idea." Really?
For another...money, any money, only has value because people choose to accept that it does. The history of money is actually interesting...if you never have, I suggest reading about it. In a nutshell, many things have been used as "money" throughout history....sticks, stones, cow dung..yes, COW DUNG. As long as people accept it as having value, it does. Usually new money is introduced by a government saying that whatever the "new money" is MUST be used to pay taxes. This decree makes everyone want the new thing. But money having value is an illusion, whether we are talking about cow dung or federal reserve notes. We are finding this out now in our current economic crisis. How valuable do you think having paper money, or computer entries denoting lots of money, will be if the food distribution system breaks down? That is why when times are tough, the rich move their wealth into gold. Gold is just as much an illusion as anything else, but people tend to think that gold will....."hold the illusion" more than anything else.
In Land, they could have used existing money easier than creating "new money". Peter and Roger took money from the bank in Dawn in safety..the mall was secured, therefore the bank was secured. There was no threat to them to take it. In Land, the peasants living in the street dont have the testicular fortitude to complain about their shitty situation... you really think they are going to venture out into zed infested lands with no weapons, no transportation, and obtain money from abandoned banks, banks which no doubt still have the money protected? Its not like the money would be laying out in the open with a big sign "zombie outbreak survivors, take this cash."
And even if some did, obtaining the money would be hard, dangerous work. Just as back in the old days, obtaining gold as a tin-pan miner was tough work. But those that could find gold did not "mess up the economy", they just added to the supply of gold, and were rewarded for their efforts. So there would be no need whatsoever, and no good reason whatsoever, to create "new" currency. And I also say, there would be no reason to want ANY currency in a world where having money would not benefit you at all. The only thing that makes sense about the desire for money in Land is that they are close to the start of the outbreak, clinging to the old concept of "I need money".
Someone mentioned earlier something like "they still had communications with Cleavland". No, they didnt, hence the disagreement about whether there were any survivors there or not. And even if you accept the rediculous premise that they were using "money" in Pitt, it is far more logical to assume that other pockets of survivors would have come up with better solutions in order to survive than using some type of cash system, therefore, there would be no reason at all to want money OUTSIDE of Pitt, unless you were so close to the start of the outbreak that you still dilluted yourself with the idea that money is important, because it always has been.
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