Ok. the message on DU is clear. Be glad with what you might get, serf!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

94. Not long ago I was reading Livy, the ancient Roman historian.

Pecuniary, which means "money," derives from the Latin word for cattle, peces, because the value of the coin was roughly the value of a cow -- a resource, it should be noted.

In ancient times when a person borrowed they were required to make repayment in the form of that which they produced. For example, a grain farmer repaid his lender in the form of grain. However, if his yield was insufficient his debt remained, generally accruing interest. Currency allowed him to repay his debts by other means. In other words if grain yields were lacking he could labor in more profitable endeavors thus earning enough money to repay his debt. It was one of the reforms instituted in ancient Rome at the time the Tribunes were asserting themselves on behalf of the plebes and these reforms allowed the republic to grow by leaps and bounds as well as recover from catastrophe.

Now, I remain curious as to how you imagine a society as complex as our modern society could offer an incentive to another human being to crawl into our sewers and keep the filth from inundating our streets. I don't see you volunteering to do it nor have you invented the much-ballyhooed machines that would obviate this unpleasant task. That said, perhaps some form of currency transaction would be in order. I would personally recommend a generous wage with generous benefits (I doubt the average urban dweller has room for peces pens) and I'm willing to affect such a compensation package through the municipal tax structure.