Collective Gelt

Here is a concept that has altered very little over the years. The basic premise is that within societies, there is this thing called gelt, gold coins, and everyone bears a shared responsibility for collecting, shining, and earning them.

The issue is how do you spread around something that isn’t digital? Do you mail it? And if so, how much? Does it make sense to pay for insurance? What about people able to make it, ya know, counterfeiters? 

What are we supposed to do with that fact? Don’t spend it all in one place. How there are people who don’t want someone else’s gelt, preferring to procure their own. 

Do we all invest together, sitting down with a financial planner on a society-wide basis? It sounds complicated, but if that’s what needs to happen, then fine, sure, let's do it. We could get a safety deposit box and exchange passwords to ensure everyone goes along with the plan. There’s not much you can do if someone refuses to participate though. You can’t just give someone gelt, leaving it on their doorstep. They might hand it to the mailman or a neighborhood voyeur. 

Some people think that gelt should only be personal, hidden in a stash or piggy bank. This individual basis makes it so some hoard gelt, believing the stuff possesses some sort of special quality.

The main problem I see with collective gelt is that far too often it’s covered in tin foil and made entirely of chocolate. Not bad, but what happens when it’s left in the sun? Honestly, how far would edible currency get you at Davos before the economists laughed you off the slopes? 

Happy Hannukah.