What is the real value of anything?

We all have different values in life, and so it’s a subjective situation, where we all place a different value on anything and everything. Money is the same, or should I say currency, whether fiat released by a government or crypto released by a private company. So what is it that determines the true value of such items? Well, when it comes to private asses, the current value is determined by the buyer and seller of those items. But when it comes to a country’s currency, does the government decide the value or how does it work?

The US dollar used to be worth a specific amount of gold and you could take your bank note, which is nothing but a promise to pay the bearer the fixed amount of gold. However, that system was disbanded in 1971, so the Dollar is actually worth nothing. Or should I say it is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. In and of itself, the piece of paper may as well be a work of art.

After all, someone can create a work of art, which is worth perhaps the ingredients to make it, but after that, the value of it is purely subjective. It all depends what you personally are willing to pay for it. Similarly the dollar is worth whatever you are willing to trade for it. You may be selling houses, cars or apples, it doesn’t matter. You are the one who decides how many dollars it is worth, not the government or anyone else.

Forex currency traders also make the market price of any one national currency against another. The price varies constantly, depending on the buyers and sellers and what they are willing to pay for it on any given day. So even the dollar, which is a means of valuing things, or even your own fiat currency, is worth whatever you decide it is worth. That is how relative such values really are.

And a value is placed upon an object or currency by a totally relative system. It’s all subjective, much like art. It has no real value actually but we have collectively decided to place a value upon it. It may be somewhat stable, but ultimately a currency has value purely because of faith or confidence. We buy it or charge a certain amount of it for our goods and services, based on our faith that the currency will be worth just as much tomorrow.

Sometimes values shift overnight and market makers are constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the moving value of a currency or an item, like art or a car. Even gold is relative in value. There is no fixed value for a piece of gold. It changes price all day long, fluctuating according to supply and demand, as well as sentiment. Sentiment is again based on faith or confidence on the day, which is based on global circumstances, which are constantly changing.

You get the idea – anything of value is based on your feeling about it on the day. Therefore nothing has intrinsic value other than what we attribute to it. If countries decide to give up using the dollar for global trade because they lose faith in it and their sentiment towards it shifts, then it will simply lose value, in relation to other currencies. Its purchasing power will dwindle too when Americans themselves lose faith in their own system, especially when masses more paper fiat currency dollars are printed. That is what is happening right now. And that is why the dollar is losing value at a rapid rate this year, in comparison to the other legacy currencies on the planet.

So if even the global reserve currency can fall out of grace due to the sentiment evaporating, then everything can fluctuate in value too. We talk about fair value and market value of an item and these are all relative. You may place a different value on something compared to me, particularly if it means more to you sentimentally. As the world changes and priorities also change, then values shift and items gain or lose value. We see this a lot in currencies both fiat and digital where uncertainty can arise overnight and shift market sentiment to such a degree that they soar or crash based purely on what we feel about it on the day.

So ultimately there is no fixed value on anything in life. And some things, like life itself, may be considered priceless. You cannot put a value on the life of a living person. Yet we do and so even you have a certain value based on what the world thinks of you, and your skills or usefulness of course. Still, we don’t discard a human simply because they have lost any usefulness. We value them at all times, which is why it is a crime to kill anyone, regardless of age or usefulness. In that sense life is priceless, yet we see it treated as a commodity by some today, which shows how diverse our value system is among all humanity on the planet.

I personally wish that you find your true value, which is something you have to discover from within. We all need to value ourselves, remember our priceless situation in this valuable human form of life because with it we can change the world for the 7.5 billion other humans, even if it’s only one person at a time. To conclude, I believe that we need to see all others as of equal value to ourselves, and realize that something is valuable only because we have decided it among ourselves on the day. In reality though, on the absolute platform, what value does it really have, especially when seen in relation to the most valuable item of all – life itself?

(image pixabay)