Money.

Money.

I take out my money. A $20, a $10, $5, and change. It is fake paper made of plastic and elaborately printed. People work hard for money, cheat and steal money, invest it, give it away, take it as fines or taxes, hoard it for power, attach their worth to it, and buy life with it. The most valuable money is a rare shiny metal called Gold. In some countries you can buy humans for money and do with them whatever you like. The value of things, including “justice” is expressed in money.

Today most money is not even printed. It exists as numbers in a complicated computer somewhere and is moved around by human fingers stroking a keyboard. We create it when you borrow it promising to pay it back. We base most economies on the American money which is issued by the US treasury which is a privately owned organization.

I had a friendly discussion with a very intelligent local whom I would describe as somewhat Far Right in his political views. Jay (not his real name) believes that the Market can solve all human problems. He is a true apostle of the actor who became President Reagan. The “star” who was hired to break the middle class convinced people that “governments don’t solve problems but are the problem.”

We had a way to govern ourselves which was based upon competition which is the foundation of Capitalism. On the one side, the most successful people who started or run corporations were fighting to use our ever-increasing productivity to benefit themselves. On the other about 25% of the workers were organized in unions able to resist and ensure that those workers who produce the wealth would gain a fair share of compensation. The two fought it out under regulations set by a democratically elected government.

People enjoyed a standard of living that in most cases no longer exist. The government used its power to regulate many aspects such as consumer protections, safety regulations and also provided safety nets for the less fortunate. Weekends and vacations, pensions and overtime pay, building codes and anti-harassment laws were some of the results. Governments provided hospitals, schools, universities, policing, emergency services, research facilities, and lots of jobs. The mailman was not ashamed to accept his wages and the driving test guy didn’t consider taking bribes.

Jay doesn’t see it that way. He believes that those who amass the biggest amount of money, regardless of how they obtained it, are the most qualified to dictate how society will run. To prove his point, he names a few of the richest people who gave fortunes to charitable foundations. Zuckerberg from Facebook was mentioned. I checked it out and Mark is a great self-made guy. He and his wife are donating handsomely most notably to education. They also invest in research into using sails in space.

Not to take away any credit from great philanthropists, I don’t trust the existing system. I don’t want to wait and see what some rich person will wake up feeling like supporting. To me the education of our kids is most important and should be controlled by the people through elected representatives and some checks and balances legislated and protected by the courts. Professional educators should draft the laws and include consultation with the users. I don’t want to end up in a situation where oil sellers can educate my kids to believe that oil is a form of energy not harmful to the environment, for example, or anything close to that.

Like Sir Winston Churchill, I believe that democracy is not perfect, but it is the best system we have. We can’t just trust it without vigilantly working to improve it and fighting to preserve its integrity. If money is used to subject the voters to plutocracy, we should use “government” to regulate and provide balance. It is most important to do so when the wellbeing of most of humankind is being threatened.

A good example is the new investment into low yield nuclear weapons and the deregulation that is happening. We jeopardize human existence for the benefit of weapons manufacturers. When governments choose not to tax those who have the most money, to promote investments, I am against.

In my opinion, money is a piece of paper designed to make easy the exchange of goods and work, not the means for controlling the majority of people. When someone has so much of it that they control, they ultimately use that power, a power that is taken from the people.

I don’t want to attract investments; I want to tax obscene wealth and use the money for the good of most people. All people need jobs, safety nets, health care, education, roads, food, shelter, protection, and you can name the rest. A fair distribution of contribution (taxes) should provide it from all people. Some will do better than others and should have more rewards, but not to the point where they become unelected leaders.

I am dead set against Communism as well as against alt-right or Neo-Liberalism. The solution is between the lines. We will always have money in some form or another, but we must regulate how it is used.

The Bible mentioned money off and on. We are told not to charge usury fees, we can’t serve two masters at the same time, money and God. People were sold for money and the Lord was betrayed for a fee. People were not welcome to trade in the Lord’s temple. Workers received wages at times in unfair but acceptable ways. A poor widow gave all the money she had to the Lord. Tax collectors were told not to charge more than laws permitted them. A golden calf was revered as God. Am I missing some other references?

The main point is, we can use money for good or evil. Humans make the choice.

 

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.