Money Makes The World Go Round

Money: Does it really make the world go round?

I'm sure everybody has heard the phrase "Money makes the world go round" before. How many people have actually questioned it? Most people don't bother, they just assume that it's an idiom and take it at surface level.

But does money really make the world go round? Could we do without money?

Actually, I don't have an answer to my first question. But with regards to my second question, I think that we couldn't do without money. Some argue that money is just a convenient way of exchange between us humans. Others think that money really is needed. Personally, though, I feel that money is needed in our daily lives. When money was first introduced in the place of the bartering system, maybe we could have shaken off the reliance on money. But now? No way. The world has been "addicted" to money. We just can't stop using it even if we tried. That's why we have a global reccession. When the US banks ran out of money and their stocks when into a free fall, the world was affected. People all around the world were worried, but could do nothing. The cold grip of fear clutched at their hearts when it was reported that Lehman Brothers closed down and many people lost their jobs.

Here's a Brain Teaser to which I don't know the answer: If the world is losing money, where is the money going to? This question has bugged me ever since I read about the financial crisis but I just remembered it. Good luck in trying to find out the answer for the Brain Teaser. Please try to answer me on this.