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February 7, 2026 

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GIFT TAX: A tax on the transfer of assets from one person to another. The gift tax is different from estate and inheritance taxes in that it applies to people who are still alive. In fact, the gift tax was created because people sought to avoid estate and inheritance taxes by giving their stuff away before dying. But all gifts are not taxed. There are both annual and lifetime exemptions on gifts subject to this tax. These exemptions are changed from time to time, so you might want to investigate further if you happened to hit the big jackpot on a television game show. Some, but not necessarily all of that prize is likely to be taxed.

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Lesson Contents
Unit 1: Money Basics
  • What It Is
  • THE Medium
  • Unit 1 Summary
  • Unit 2: More About Money
  • Functions
  • Medium of Exchange
  • Measure of Value
  • Store of Value
  • Standard of Deferred Payment
  • Characteristics
  • Unit 2 Summary
  • Unit 3: Monetary Aggregates
  • M1
  • M2
  • Near Monies
  • M3
  • L
  • Unit 3 Summary
  • Unit 4: Money's History
  • Barter
  • Commodity Money
  • Metal Commodity Money
  • Fiat Money
  • Money
  • Unit 4 Summary
  • Unit 5: Scarcity
  • Efficiency
  • Monetary Policy
  • Unit 5 Summary
  • Course Home
    Money

    In this lesson, we examine my favorite economic topic -- money. In addition to being the root of all evil, money is a critical component of the macroeconomy. The basic rule is that too much money causes inflation and too little money causes unemployment. To lay the foundation for further study of money and the macroeconomy, this lesson presents the money basics, including what money is, what money does, how money is measured, and how money evolved to it's current format.

    • The first unit begins this lesson with a look at what money is (hint: anything that people use for exchanges), and money's role as a medium of exchange.
    • The main topics of the second unit are the four functions of money and the four characteristics of money.
    • The third unit then examines and compares the monetary aggregates, the official measures of money tracked by the U.S. government.
    • The history of money is the prime topic of the fourth unit, with a look at how modern fiat money evolved from self sufficiency, barter, and commodity money.
    • The fifth unit then ponders the connection between money, efficiency, and the scarcity problem, with an eye toward the use of monetary policies.

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    ORDINAL UTILITY

    The notion that utility--the satisfaction of wants and needs achieved through the consumption of goods and services--is measured by a ranking of preferences (first, second, third, etc.) that are only comparable on a relative basis. Ordinal utility does not presume that satisfaction is a measurable characteristic of a person, like height or weight, that can be compared against an established benchmark. The contrasting notion is cardinal utility, which is based on a numerical standard.

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    APLS

    BLUE PLACIDOLA
    [What's This?]

    Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time looking for the new strip mall out on the highway hoping to buy either a rechargeable battery for your computer or shoe laces for your snow boots. Be on the lookout for defective microphones.
    Your Complete Scope

    This isn't me! What am I?

    A communal society, a prime component of Karl Marx's communist philosophy, was advocated by the Greek philosophy Plato.
    "Everyone's got it in him, if he'll only make up his mind and stick at it. None of us is born with a stop-valve on his powers or with a set limit to his capacities. There's no limit possible to the expansion of each one of us."

    -- Charles M. Schwab

    FRS
    Federal Reserve System
    A PEDestrian's Guide
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