Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Assignment 3


Jacqueline Burke
19th Century American Economies
Assignment 3: Establishing and Valuing an SBC

            Humans have always sought to make their various currencies appear appealing to the masses. This has been done throughout time by striking coins that bear symbols with important meaning to individual cultures and more often than not these symbols are usually animals. The ancient Greeks often used coins with lions or bulls, while modern American and Canadian coins display native birds such as the eagle or the loon. With this in mind, it would not be a stretch for those at Sweet Briar College to adopt a form of currency that utilizes this basic theme in the creation of currency. Therefore I propose that Sweet Briar use Emtec animal flash drives as a form of currency on campus.
            The animal flash drive trend is a fairly recent one in which the portable electronic drive is encased in durable rubber shaped like a specific animal. The appeal of this form of portable drive is apparent to all who see them. All the drives are more visually appealing and stimulating that than the standard flash drives, which are usually drab and do not garner attention like those from Emtec. Emtec has created over 30 different bodies for their flash drives, ranging from snakes and crocodiles to turtles and clownfish to monkeys and elephants. This wide range provides ample options for the basis of a currency and cannot easily be reproduced by the common person because they missing both the resources for the flash drive and the outer body.
This would not be a cheap combination for counterfeiters, and would hopefully dissuade them from the task. Additionally Emtec animal drives have a very unique appearance that combines the realistic features of the animal with an artistic interpretation of the creature, creates a cartoonish version of the animal. This increases the difficulty for counterfeiters who may wish to create duplicates of the drives.
The animal body covering the actual drive would be the factor that determines the value of the flash drive as a whole. This means that the amount of data a flash drive may be able to contain plays no role in deciding the relative value of the currency; although, the two parts must be together for the drive to function as a form of legal tender on campus. The ability of the drives to store data and information is merely an additional use for the flash drives, similar to the use of bead or cocoa in ancient civilizations. 
In the Sweet Briar Currency the currency would be divided up in a manner similar to that of the current United States system, the one difference would be that all prices would be whole numbers. This would remove the hassle of dealing with unnecessary spare change.  The highest denomination in this currency would be a flash drive in the shape of the Sweet Briar Vixen. The Vixen would be roughly equivalent to fifty American dollars; this would be the highest amount because college students do not like to carry around extensive amounts of money. The Vixen is granted this highest honor because of her proud history as the college mascot and for being historically viewed as a symbol for a proud, intelligent, strong, independent and cunning woman.
The turtle would represent the next highest denomination because in Native American cultures it was viewed as a symbol of the power of female energies. Turtles are also believed to represent keeping oneself grounded in reality, all of which are important qualities in everyday life. For this reason the turtle would be worth 20 American dollars.
After the turtle would come the lion, worth 10 American dollars and would symbolize strength and pride in ones accomplishments. The penguin, chosen because it symbolizes order and organization, would follow the lion and would be valued at 5 American dollars. Finally, the lowest value in this system would be the mouse, valued at 1 American dollar. The mouse would be used instead of various other animals because the mouse is symbolic of paying attention to slight details, and those small details can play a huge role in various aspects of one’s life. All of the flash drives would be emblazoned with the Sweet Briar College crest as a way of ensuring that the currency is legal tender.
These figurines would be valued for their visual appeal as well as their ability to store information. However, value would be primarily attributed to their physical features because they have the ability to make one smile or cheer someone up. The drives would be more highly valued by students that the average flash drive because it is a unique creation and is simply all around more appealing than the typical flash drive. Furthermore, students would be less likely to lose the animal drives than the standard one because they would feel as though the animal drive were special. It is reminiscent of childhood toys and memories, and this association with pleasant events would act as a safeguard against loss or damage.
The use of this new currency would create a system in which wealth is more visible to the rest of Sweet Briar society. As of right now it is fairly difficult to tell who may or may not come from wealth but if this system was implemented students and faculty would easily be able to distinguish the wealthy from the impecunious. This would possibly lead to more perceptible economic divisions, meaning that the wealthy would segregate themselves from those less endowed and create an elitist group. This group would command greater economic pull on the campus economy and therefore have more power in other areas of campus life. The poor on the other hand would similarly cut themselves off from those with means and create a society among themselves that operated on different standards than those on the rest of campus. Those in financial straits would be more likely to use a semi-barter system to obtain goods and services than the wealthy would be.

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