These national currencies have a dual role - a means of exchange and store of value. They fail miserably as a store of value thanks to inflation. Most Britons have become considerably poorer with below inflation wage and benefit rises while the top couple of percent have made out like bandits. Many homeowners believe they are net winners thanks to the increasing cost of houses, but property prices is the biggest of all the financial bubbles and when it pops there'll be panic in every UK street.