{"id":4897,"date":"2019-03-06T05:00:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4897"},"modified":"2019-03-03T18:32:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T02:32:46","slug":"mark-reads-making-money-chapter-4-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/03\/mark-reads-making-money-chapter-4-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Making Money&#8217;: Chapter 4, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the second part of the fourth chapter of <i>Making Money<\/i>, Moist makes a mess by running his mouth, and then has a ridiculous idea. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. I figured that once Moist was in, he would be <i>in<\/i>, but this happened so fast. And of course it did! Once Moist accepted that he had to represent Mr. Fusspot\u00e2\u20ac\u201das absurd as that is\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhis mouth was ready to spew out whatever half-baked idea was at the ready. And to Sacharissa Cripslock, no less! Oh my god, this opening scene was just so FUN, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. We know Sacharissa has seen some THINGS, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a delight in getting to see how Moist shocks her. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>ready<\/i>. She is prepared for the bullshit, and she is prepared to call out Moist right to his face, and then&#8230; oh god, he just starts SAYING SHIT.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Because look: it really does seem obvious that Mrs. Lavish gave her shares to Mr. Fusspot to screw the family. And it also seems obvious that Vetinari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Undertaking will now deal with the bank. Right? So, I can see how Sacharissa went into this feeling like she had a sense for Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shenanigans, that she knew what kind of bullshit he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d spin, and then&#8230; nope. I love that she says this so early:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Moist, you are just no fun anymore.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Sacharissa closed her notebook. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking like&#8230; well, like a banker.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And in that, Pratchett reveals another angle to her: She <i>also<\/i> knew that Moist most likely would provide her with an interesting story. Look what happened last time he was given a public institution! And yet, in short time, Moist delivers on the goods, and oh my god, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a delight to re-read this for the review and see the exact point where he gets himself in trouble.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I intend to throw out what we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need. For example, we have a room full of useless metal in the vault. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And just like that, Moist starts making ridiculous promises that he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually thought about, that he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll execute, and HE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T STOP. Not only does he say he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get the bank off the gold standard, but then he makes a sensible but hilarious comparison to the potato standard. Then he kinda promises to just <i>give<\/i> money away? Truly. GIVE MONEY AWAY.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Not done:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How can you expect me to come up with a new fiscal initiative by teatime?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All right, but\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take me at least until breakfast.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>MOIST. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS. Spoiler: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because <i>he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist it<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the thrill of the impossible, the challenge of the preposterous. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why he loved conning people so much! Except now, the game has changed. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got so many eyes on him that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible for him to hide. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now been profield by <i>The Times<\/i> how many times? When he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got that golden suit on, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>the<\/i> Postmaster General. So&#8230; what about that top hat? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly not as flashy as the gold suit, but something tells me that Moist is going to come up with something new. A tuxedo of some sort, maybe?<\/p>\n<p>I say that because Pratchett is toying with notions of class and wealth in this story. Take Aimsbury and Peggy for example, the chef and his daughter. Ahem, I mean the <i>dog<\/i> chef. Aimsbury has ONLY COOKED FOR THE DOG THE WHOLE TIME HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S BEEN EMPLOYED BY THE LAVISHES. The very idea is so absurd to me, but I feel like this is barely a joke, if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one at all. I hesitate to look up dog chefs because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find out how much they make and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to go lay down. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that having a specialized diet for a dog is weird! But having the <i>quality<\/i> of food that Mr. Fusspot gets, and knowing that someone dedicates their every waking day to preparing it is&#8230; a lot. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fathom it. So: a tuxedo! A black top hat isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough, particularly one that <i>old<\/i>. Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be fun if Moist played with an outfit meant to communicate a high class standing?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I feel like that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where this story is heading. How can Moist dismantle all the classist nonsense that now surrounds the bank? One of those ways appears to have its origins in this chapter as Moist re-thinks money. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a wonderful internal monologue here about what money means and where it derives its value. It isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in gold, which is assigned a meaning by humans. It isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153naturally\u00e2\u20ac\u009d valuable in any real sense. So, if money is going to based on things that <i>we<\/i> giving meaning to, why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t something as big as a city provide that value? Here, Pratchett gets to the arbitrary nature of money, and Moist gets to start something exciting. What if he created bills that weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just flashy, but were worth a set value? What if they had \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gravitas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and what if they were official? And what if he could change the idea of who provides that value rather than basing it on the fluctuating price of gold?<\/p>\n<p>THIS IS EXCITING!!!<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/15yfiNC9oCA<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/19\/the-anger-is-a-gift-paperback-edition-is-out-may-7-2019\">The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the second part of the fourth chapter of Making Money, Moist makes a mess by running his mouth, and then has a ridiculous idea. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[558,463,248],"class_list":["post-4897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-making-money","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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