Cantada, Carlo L.

BSLM – 2A

The Ascent of Money: Reflection

Money is known by many names; whether it is bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah
or readies, it is considered to be the foundation of human progress, as regarded by Professor Niall
Ferguson; may be because it determines a specific value in which it could be used according to its
extent; just like how he narrated the way of life of the early civilization of Inca in which they don’t
have a currency, but a concept of gold as the tears of sun and the silver as the tears of moon; until
they were defeated by the Spaniards, and took advantage of their resources.

Ferguson mentioned that money could either make us or destroy us. This could be based
upon an individual or single entity, or as a whole society in which the economy of the mass is
affected. The power of money can really destroy as it is our foundation, economically speaking; it
is that powerful that early civilizations have risen and fallen by the use of it, and that empires in
the wall street have been built for the purpose of financing. It is also destructive as regards to what
happened during the great depression, and stock market bubble which were a huge step back for
the economy of U.S., and of the European countries.

But the thing that really struck me is how the new financial revolution is propelling the
world’s biggest countries like India and China, from poverty to wealth in the space of a single
generation; it is an economic transformation unprecedented in human history, and his [Ferguson]
conclusions that sooner or later every bubble bursts, and sooner or later sellers will outnumber the
bullish buyers.

I consider this film as a historical documentary rather than an informative one. The film
had shown the birth of using currency, its ups and downs, and the things that should be considered
to prevent the same mistakes that had occurred. Just like what happened to Spanish conquistadors
because of the poor allocation of their early currency, they struggled financially and economically.
The same was not repeated by the succeeding civilizations. And just like that, the economic
decisions of people continually develops.