Credit card
A History of the World in 100 Objects
The Importance of Trust
In the absence of a village priest with global reach to endorse our IOUs, we use credit cards which span the world. This particular gold card carries two brand names familiar all around the world. One tells us that it's issued by a London based bank, a name familiar on every British high street. But the card also has on it writing in Arabic. In short, this card is connected to the whole world, part of a global financial system backed up by a complex electronic superstructure. We're free now as never before to spend our way around the globe, but most of us haven't slightest idea how this system of moving money actually works. Even more important, we don't
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