Originally money was just a medium to replace barter. It
represented hard work pretty much on a one-to-one basis. The
blacksmith toiled for a day shoeing horses and received five
dollars. The farmer harvested for a day and received five
dollars. Each of them could then take their five dollars and go
buy whatever they needed, understanding that what they bought
would represent in a fair way the fruit of their labor. There
was not much opportunity for wealth in those times since a
person could only work so much. Over time money has
evolved from providing functions of exchange and units of
account to taking on a life of its own through clever financial
schemes of multiplication. Where there is room for corruption,
for someone to cheat, get something for nothing, work the system
to their advantage, you can bet somebody will figure out a way.
Money provides the perfect vehicle to that end, particularly now
that it is nothing more than a stroke on a computer keyboard.
Arguably it is a corruption that money can now be accumulated
disproportionate to the work used to create it. The monetary
world - rather than serving as a measure of work or goods - has
become like a gigantic casino. Luck, inheritance, financial
markets, working the "system" and graft can amass huge amounts
of paper wealth. So too can legitimate business create wealth
through the incremental profits permitted in multiplying oneself
by contract with vendors, agents and employees.
We desire money not only because it permits the necessities and
luxuries of life, but also because it can replace work and give
us ease. More importantly, money has replaced brute strength as
the means to power. Money is like the sword in the stone of King
Arthur legend. Once you pull it out of the stone you are imbued
with special powers. It's also a Golden Rule - whoever has the
gold rules.
Because money is a medium of essentially all interactions, it
can be thought of as the prime mover. Roads, schools, utilities,
environmental protection, social aid, medical care, defense,
industry, religion and even close personal and family
relationships are affected by money. We are naïve if we think
they are not. Money woes, for example, are the leading cause of
divorce. Essentially all of society is now shaped by the flow of
dollars. It is important for us to realize that most modern
systems and ideas are not in place because they are necessarily
true or of some noble purpose or higher ideal (although they may
have started from that beginning). There are always better
ideas, but without a lot of kicking and screaming they will
never displace the one ensconced that is shuttling money,
turning profits and providing material gains. Money nails ideas
in place regardless of their merit.
A good example is the gasoline-powered automobile. Born out of
the need for better transportation and the ideal of bettering
society (with no little profiteering enthusiasm thrown in), it
remains in spite of much better ideas. Efforts to use more
recyclable materials, stop the obsolescence from cosmetic model
changes and create nonpolluting and more efficient engines are
stymied because those who make money with the system as it is
are threatened and hold the reins of power.
Modern medicine is another good example. The medical system
began with the ideal of healing. With over one and a half
trillion dollars annually circulating through it, it remains not
because of its merit but because it is riveted there by money.
For example, drugs that are known to kill remain in the market
until the cost of litigating damages exceeds profits from sales.
The FDA, not wanting to disturb billion dollar industries too
much, may step in and do no more than require re-labeling (like
a stronger contraindications warning that the drug may cause
serious harm or death). In effect, foxes are guarding the
medical hen house. There are far better approaches to healthcare
than focusing on symptoms and naming diseases. But these ideas
remain on the fringes and are not afforded the opportunity to
establish legitimacy because they threaten status (money) quo.
In the meantime millions die and suffer from preventable
diseases.
It is tragic that the way things change once they are securely
(financially) in place is not due to better ideas but because of
crisis. Modern medicine will eventually change, but not because
it recognizes its own deficiencies or that it is the number one
killer of our modern time. ("Why Modern Medicine Is The Greatest
Threat To Health" http://www.wysong.net/health/hl_884.shtml, by
this author.)
It will change, as it now ever so slowly is, because of the
economic crisis of people turning to alternative practitioners.
Also, you can bet that if oil ran out or enough people were
gagging on pollution we would have a new form of engine. But
until then (even though pollution is a problem and oil reserves
are clearly finite), economic forces will keep things as they
are even if things as they are clearly take us down a slippery
slope. Unfortunately the course of history we are setting
follows the money trail, not good ideas.
Old institutions die hard when shored up with the mortar of
money. The motto seems to be: money first and solve no crisis
before its time. Only when gross tragedy is clearly imminent do
we see the light. There is nothing like facing death or
extinction to create rational clarity. If it is not too late,
society will survive and perhaps even advance by putting a
better idea in place. If it does not, that will not be a new
thing since the corruption and demise of every developed
civilization in history stems from financial powers keeping
things as they were. The difficulty today is the problem is
global, not local. It will not continue to be isolated matters
of, "too bad about over there." "Too bad" will be us and "over
there" will be here.
But economics does not have to proceed in a moral and ethical
vacuum, benefit only a few nor spell our demise. Reason and
principle can guide our course. Economics is no more and no less
than the people who make the transactions. It is within our
reach to use it to create utopia or spend our way into
environmental, social or political oblivion.
Change for the better will not likely happen voluntarily from
the top down, but only from the bottom up. We the people must
use money in a rational way to make a better world by supporting
only those people and institutions that set ethics and
principles before profit. Industry, politicians, medical and
other institutions are not destroying our health and world, we
are by giving them our money. Purchasing power is the ultimate
power. All we need to do is exert it in the right direction.
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