What Is Money?

Following up on Rates and Economic Decline?

Money has specific purchasing power properties viz., medium of exchange, unit of account, sometimes a store of value.  The value of money is the utility it serves, viz. generalized purchasing power. 

The most common yardstick is the accepted FORM it takes viz. credit, debt (debenture, equity, bond), instrument (ABCP, repo, MMMF, synthetic derivative, etc.), asset (commodity, RE) and legal tender (note, specie).

The principle of substitution applies to money, viz. a commodity or service will be devoted to those uses which are the most profitable. 

Thus, the more valuable money is held or hoarded, if possible, as a store of value, and the less valuable is used as a medium of exchange. 

Hence, the bad money drives out the good.

BDC - "I have a PhD thesis in my mind of what "money actually is," since no one knows, or rather, no one can explain it to me (granted, it might just be I'm an idiot)."

Not an idiot, take solace my friend as there are professional idiots who don't know what money is. 

All the Fed's men and their 300 Phd's, cannot properly differentiate between money and liquid assets viz. inside and outside money [banking system] which have differing functionality, and the resulting economic consequence of such.  

Decades of assumptions and misconceptions stemming from that false doctrine, stand as the root of most of our current and future economic problems.