Money is violence and greed
anonymous
March 30 2010, 13:48:03 UTC
Hi Aaron,
I beg to differ. There are two sides of money, the bright side and the dark side. Unfortunately, our current monetary system feeds on the dark side, the violent side, and pushes it in that direction relentlessly.
I know you have written extensively on money recently and I have yet to read through all of your blogs. I would be happy to share with you what I have come to understand about money so far.
Economics is a social institution and money is the instrument of that institution. There is nothing sacred about money and yet society worships money more than any other god. We think of money as an IOU but it is not. Money is a U O Me. Money is an entitlement to future goods and services. It represents power over present and future workers.
We have money in our pockets (or bank accounts or wherever) not only because we may have earned it, but because we have saved it. Thus it represents profit or surplus. Sometime in the future we would hope to redeem our money for some good or service. At sometime in history, receipt money was redeemable for grain or gold help in storage. That is the concept of money backed by commodity or something tangible. Today, fiat money is backed by nothing except trust. There is no real surplus that backs our savings and the reality is your and my money sitting in the bank is practically worthless. Money is a debt on future generations.
The good purpose of money is to facilitate exchange. Use of money for this purpose is much more efficient than barter. But money, like land and human beings are not commodities and cannot be bought and sold. The day we started exchanging money for more money is the day we stepped on to the exponential growth curve that is clearly not sustainable. Other cultures and religions understood this deeply and declared usury a moral sin.
We live in a predatory world. One can argue that in all respects of the natural world is Darwinian, survival of the fittest. Prey or be prayed upon. We succumb to violence and greed, exploitation and self-serving interests. Violence begets violence. As far as I can see, the only way humans can get out of this predicament is by exercising unconditional love for each other and for nature.
Re: Money is violence and greedvaluesystemMarch 30 2010, 18:44:56 UTC
Hi Kenrick,
Thanks for the thoughts and ideas, you have some really useful insights in there, and I'll be reading them over more as I keep doing thinking and research on money and property.
I think property is of particular interest to me at the moment: the idea that property is violence... the entire concept of what can be property in the first place. It seems like our history is a tale of what can be owned, and what can be property.
Primarily, though, I'm trying to think about how to prevent this civilization from destroying the remaining wilderness.
How do we put structures in place within humanity that cause humans to encourage and increase and expand protect and wild areas?
I beg to differ. There are two sides of money, the bright side and the dark side. Unfortunately, our current monetary system feeds on the dark side, the violent side, and pushes it in that direction relentlessly.
I know you have written extensively on money recently and I have yet to read through all of your blogs. I would be happy to share with you what I have come to understand about money so far.
Economics is a social institution and money is the instrument of that institution. There is nothing sacred about money and yet society worships money more than any other god. We think of money as an IOU but it is not. Money is a U O Me. Money is an entitlement to future goods and services. It represents power over present and future workers.
We have money in our pockets (or bank accounts or wherever) not only because we may have earned it, but because we have saved it. Thus it represents profit or surplus. Sometime in the future we would hope to redeem our money for some good or service. At sometime in history, receipt money was redeemable for grain or gold help in storage. That is the concept of money backed by commodity or something tangible. Today, fiat money is backed by nothing except trust. There is no real surplus that backs our savings and the reality is your and my money sitting in the bank is practically worthless. Money is a debt on future generations.
The good purpose of money is to facilitate exchange. Use of money for this purpose is much more efficient than barter. But money, like land and human beings are not commodities and cannot be bought and sold. The day we started exchanging money for more money is the day we stepped on to the exponential growth curve that is clearly not sustainable. Other cultures and religions understood this deeply and declared usury a moral sin.
We live in a predatory world. One can argue that in all respects of the natural world is Darwinian, survival of the fittest. Prey or be prayed upon. We succumb to violence and greed, exploitation and self-serving interests. Violence begets violence. As far as I can see, the only way humans can get out of this predicament is by exercising unconditional love for each other and for nature.
Kenrick Chin
Reply
Thanks for the thoughts and ideas, you have some really useful insights in there, and I'll be reading them over more as I keep doing thinking and research on money and property.
I think property is of particular interest to me at the moment: the idea that property is violence... the entire concept of what can be property in the first place. It seems like our history is a tale of what can be owned, and what can be property.
Primarily, though, I'm trying to think about how to prevent this civilization from destroying the remaining wilderness.
How do we put structures in place within humanity that cause humans to encourage and increase and expand protect and wild areas?
Reply
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