Discussion points

Ex.19. Discuss the following:

1. If you have to send money to someone, a family member or your friend in another city or country, what do you normally do? What way of sending money do you choose: by air mail or transfer with companies like Western Union or MoneyGram? Why?

2. You’re going to buy a car, a flat or just an expensive present for somebody but you don’t have enough money at present. Which source of finance would you use:

- borrow it from a member of your family, your friend or a colleague,

- try to get a loan from a bank or

- use another source?

3. As you know, barter is sometimes practiced nowadays. Do you think there is some difference between direct barter in pre-market economies and modern barter?

4. Why is inflation a matter of concern to us?

Ex.20. Read the following proverbs, sayings and quotations about money. Which do you like best? Express your viewpoint.

1. Time is money.

Benjamin Franklin, Am. statesman and philosopher, 1706-1790

2. “Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one.” Benjamin Franklin

3. “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” Benjamin Franklin

4. “When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.” Voltaire, French writer, 1694-1778

5. Money is the root of all evil. (proverb)

6. “Money isn’t the root of all evil. Poverty is.” Silva Hartmann, UK author and lecturer on psychology, born 1959

7. Money spent on the brain is never spent in vain.

8. Money doesn’t grow on trees.

9. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

10. Out of debt, out of danger.

11. “Money is like an arm or leg – use it or lose it.” Henry Ford, Am. industrialist and founder of the Ford Motor Company

12. “Money is a universal passport to everywhere except heavens, and a universal provider of everything except happiness; however, it helps.” Evan Esar, (1899–1995), an American humorist who wrote Esar's Comic
Dictionary, 1943