Thanks Stoner,
Both your ideas and the article show common sense. As I said, I really do not know how you should balance your instinctive abhorance to money, with your needs. I can only tell you what I think in general, and how I understand what is actually happening in the world. I totally agree with at least most of that article, but there is more going on than just that.
One thing though that I would like to clarify, is that rich and poor predate modern technology. While primative societies may not have as much elitism, they do have a chief, and various other high 'status' jobs, and these people probably do get preferential treatment over the others. Any time that a society emerges from tribal society into any sort of true civilization, or grows beyond a few dozen people, those people start to stratify into several different classes, based on economic and social status. This is a very sad consequence of every culture and society that has ever existed. I really do not think currency is the cause of it. I think frankly that it is a result of the fact that most human beings cannot deeply care about more than a few dozen people at a time. Fruther we usually choose people who are most like us, in terms of class, and economic level, to care about, because THOSE are the people we know. We can feel pity for those less fortunate, but generally this pity is a passing thing, for most people, as opposed to the continuing concern for our best friends and our family.
Also the world is full of worthy causes and ideologies and needy people, all of which barrage us constantly with information. My mother has given to various charities before. Not a whole lot because she isn't a wealthy woman, but you would not believe how many phone calls and junk mail she gets from every sort of charity. She can't possibly give to all of them. The thing is we as human beings are limited. WE cannot donate either time or money, or even much thought to ALL the causes that people want to pitch to us. THerefore it is a matter of feeling a 'calling,' or special interest in a cause. Some people want to save the earth, or save the whales, most. Others want to fund medical research, and then they have to choose between organs, and conditions... do we support the heart fund? How about multiple sclerosis, or dowe help children with birth defects from march of dimes? Maybe if our thing is kids, we could send money to Make a Wish, or St. Judes Hospital, or Save the Children, or UNICEF? But we don't have enough to go around to all of them. Thank Goodness that each cause finds a special place in some of the people's hearts, but no one can care about everything, and work to promote and support and volunteer for every single charity or concern out there. WE are limited as human beings, both by time and money, but more than that, we just don't have the capacity to care DEEPLY about everything all at once. It would drive us nuts, and this inability to concern ourselves with more than a few dozen people, or more than a dozen different causes. In most cases we can read an article, or watch a program, or listen to a friend tell us about something, and we can care very deeply for about 15 minutes, and then we feel guilty like we ought to do something, but then we realize we either can't change it or don't really want to bad enough to do something. From there we start to feel guilty, and then we want it to stop. We don't want to hear any more, because although we realize it may be a valid cause, there are millions of causes in the world,and we only have $50 dollars in our pocket, and about an hour a week of spare time... so we can't really change the world everytime we hear about one of these causes. However every once in a while a cause will hit us as vital, and we WILL jump to help that group.
Poverty is a major cause though, and most people would like to stop it. It's an age old problem. It is only your perspective that lack of money is caused by money itself that is unusual. Most people think lack of money is solved by giving money or raising money, not by questioning whether money is a good thing in the first place.
In Jesus's day he speaks of the poor, and feels that they are blessed in other ways. He also says that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven. ON the other hand he at least implys that both might be possible... just highly unlikely. LOL Some Scholars say that the eye of the needle refers to a certain type of gate common in the middle east, in which a camel if it were going to get through, would have to be emptied of it's burden, and then get on it's knees and crawl through the opening. That makes more sense to me than a litteral needle and definitely improves the metaphore... whether or not that's what he meant. Kneeling has always been a symbol of humility, and leaving behind that which one has been carrying infers a great release of worldly goods. Thus looking at wealth of possessions, as an encumbrance, rather than a blessing. On the other hand the bible also speaks of God blessing people who give, with monetary blessing. It seems to be the law of karma, that if you give away things, easily and cheerfully, you will be blessed with an abundant flow of resources, both into your control, and back out of it, as others give to you, and you give to others. WHEN THIS process is impeeded in a society and rich people greedily cling to their resources, things get bad for everyone.
Not all rich people are greedy though, and I read about one rich guy, who several years ago, tried to give away over half of his wealth. It was very hard though, because everytime he gave away half his wealth, his wealth increased, and he'd have to give away more, and the more he gave away, the more his wealth accumulated. He was baffled by this, but as someone familiar with the concept of seed faith, it made perfect sense. "Give and gifts will be given unto you." This guy wanted to get back to being a regular guy, and just flat could not because of this karmic law, which works very much like gravity.
Greed is just another kind of fear... and in the case of the wealthy it is an irrational fear, but it's still very real. The fear of poverty though is sometimes what drives people to produce. I really feel that no matter what the outcome, fear is by nature a bad thing. Fear is lack of faith, according to Frank Herbert "Fear is the mind killer." Negative emotions are not good motivation, especially for long term accomplishments. One should instead be motivated by love. "Perfect love casts out all fear." I think all this is a matter of attitude. Most people work because they love... they may not sit down and rationalize it, but I feel this is the case. People start a job because they love their families and want to be able to take the pressure of providing off of their parents, as soon as they are old enough, and then they work because their spouce and children need to be provided for. More than that though, they should work because each and every client or customer has a need, and they fill that need in a way that benefits them. Each client is made in the image of God, and we want to bring joy and satisfaction to them. That's really the key to a rewarding life, to see that every person is precious and special, and we love them the way we love ourselves and our family. We take their needs seriously, and any business that makes customer satisfaction an uncompromised policy, based on love of each client will be successful.
The most successful people produce out of benevolence, such as creating something to meet a need and selling it, or out of creativity, just because they enjoy making it, and also enjoy seeing other people apprecate and enjoy it.
Overall people are often motivated to work because work is rewarding and interesting, and beats the heck out of sitting around vegitating. Work should be joyful.. as the bible says, doing everything we do as if it were a gift for God himself. "doing everything as unto the Lord." It's for sure that even the waitress who understands that she is meeting the needs of people made in the immage of God, will be happier and more successful than one who loaths their job and feels it is benieth her. Or one who's focused on 'just making her shift' Really any work is rewarding, and everyone should feel pasionate about their job. There's just a good feeling you get knowing you did your best... and that's one of the things lacking these days. Everyone thinks they just work for a check, but really we work for the customers, as much as the company. We provide a service of some sort, any time we work, and serving others should always be a joy, not just a job.
People were created to be hard workers and cheerful givers, and the key to that is truely understanding WHY we do it. I think this has been lost to our society. It has been lost, largely on European culture from the begining. In general Feudal Lords were merciless employeers who gave little in return for loyal service. They were greedy graspers of money and power, and the only service they gave was protection from other feudal lords who sought to plunder the villages... however they did, PERSONALLY protect the pesants, and led Knights into battle. In exchange for this protection and mere sustanance, the surfs worked very hard. Lords however varried a lot in the perks they offered to their pesants. Vlad Tepish (the Impailer,) for example, for all his bloody reputation in battle, gave his peasants a golden cup to drink from. At the city well, was a golden cup, which was there for all, both visitor and guest, because he felt his people deserved the dignity and honor of drinking from a golden cup. He is as well known in his own land for his generosity, as he is in the rest of the world for his ruthless treatment of his enemies. In his own country he is remembered as a great leader and champion of his people. It is true that most of his wealth was the spoils of war, but he was at least not selfish about it. LOL
IMO, it is not the monetary system that is wrong, nor the ideal of working, it is all in the attitude. To give your best efforts to a task feels good, and then to not only provide for your family, but to in turn bless others also feels good. Those who do not understand this principle miss a lot in life. Those who greedily grasp every dime, to spend on them and theirs, miss a whole lot. Those who slack off at work, are also cheating themselves, as well as their employeers, and their customers.
This attitude was presented by Jesus, and the Christians have twisted the work eithic into what it has become. Fruther those who hold no god but money have fruther twisted it into a quest for selfish gain. Jesus said, "You have not because you ask not, and you ask and recieve not because you ask AMISS, that you might consume it upon your lusts."
The rich and upper middle class of this society have been consuming a LOT of stuff "upon their lusts," and we poor are no better, because we have only complained that our lusts demanded more... and we envied the rich because of their excesses. Does that mean that we have to live in abject poverty? I really don't think so. Jesus spoke of blessings, and that God would bless us for giving. In other words if you give back out of your abundance, God will use you to bless yourself your family and others... but if you are stingy and hold back and hide your treasure in the ground, then God will allow it to be taken away at first opportunity, and maybe THAT is why misers are so fearful. Maybe they have felt that correction before, and not understood it. That teaching is only taught in Christian circles, and even then in most cases not correctly. In general though it's simple. God blesses generous people, who do their best, and have the compassion for others. It is soooo wrong to begrudge work, and not do your best, and it is equally wrong not to share, or give back.
The problem NOW with our economy is that just a few people, maybe three percent have significant excess money. Those people keep getting more. In MOST cases, this is not because of God's blessing, but because of free will, and the free market decisions, and because of bribes and graft in politics and business. Because these people are NOT for the most part Godly people, they HORDE the money rather than give, or even offer decent wages to their employees. Fruther these greedy graspers have swallowed up their smaller competitors in business, by means of merger, and corporate buy outs, until there are only a few companies. All the world's media is dominated by only 5 corporations. There are some smaller companies who contribute a small percentage to that, but really when it comes to news, film, magazines, it's all controled by the big 5. It used to be that newspapers were owned locally, and there were a lot more magazines and movie studios that were individual companies, but they merged into this five headed monster.
www.globalissues.org/article/159/media-conglomerates-mergers-concentration-of-ownershipwww.corporations.org/media/www.fair.org/index.php?page=1406Due to excessive mergering, these 5 corporations control public opinion world wide, decide what will be reported and what won't, and decide which movies get to be produced. They edit everything... and that is dangerous, politically, in that they have control of all the information that fuels our our elections, and our opinions of world events. IT's not just here in the US either. These five countries are telling all the people all over the world THEIR INTERPRETATION of the "facts" that THEY want us to know... and leaving outthe facts they don't want us to know. IT's their choice.
Banks are also into the merger game. The result so far is that there are a couple dozen banks that hold the vast majority of the nation's money, and even foreign banks are starting to merge with ours. It's just creating these monsterously powerful companies, which are holding ALL our resources.
Huge National and INTERNATIONAL companies are taking over the whole world, and no one is raising a finger to stop them, as they squeeze out the little guy and swallow their competition one by one.
The other monster is the unholy trinity known as insurance, health care industry and the pharmaceutical companies. These big three prey on the pain of others, and bill us to death at our most vernerable moments. Really insurance is the worst of this. Insurance accounts for one sixth of the nations economy... and it shouldn't. IT produces nothing, and it really does not provide a service. It mearly takes money from people, and puts it in a large pool of money. Then it draws off this pool for it's own expenses, and salleries and for stock holder dividends... the remainder of the money is kept in case one of it's policy holders get sick. When policy holders do get sick though, they go to any lenghts to avoid payment. They claim fraud, pre-existing condition and all kinds of loop holes to keep from paying, even though all those people have been paying hundreds of dollars a month for years without filing a significant claim... then as soon as they really do get sick they cancel the policy or go up on the premiums to the point people can't afford to pay, but then they can't afford not to, cause the only thing more expensive than insurance for a sick person, is the actual bill once it's been all padded by a hospital and half a dozen doctors, three or four different labs, and the ambulance service. IT's all totally insane, but if one wants to survive one's illness, one has to pay... and it's so wrong.
Small businesses suffer because huge business wants the whole pie, and has the resources to under price them, out advertise them, and generally sell us all the shoddy merchandise from China we can carry, for a price most people can still afford after paying their house payment and car payment to a huge bank, and their utilities to huge utility companies, and pay for all their insurance, for their house and car and physical well being... at least that's how it's supposed to work, but now days with so many people out of work, no one can afford everything, so where can we cut? How can we live without all that stuff we just have to have?
The thing is that NOTHING should cost as much as it does. EVERYTHING is overpriced, and doesn't cost even a tenth, as much to produce, transport, etc, as it does in the store. Department stores are ripping you off! The Insurance company is making a killing off you, and the minute you stop being profitable they drop you. If you have a credit card, the credit card bank is taking your for a ride more than all the rest. IF you are making payments on ANYTHING you are probably paying five times what it cost, and five hundred times what it's worth. For example say Walmart purchases a truck load of huge cardboard boxes full of sweat shirts. Those shirts cost them pennies each, but they aren't ashamed to charge YOU $15 or $20 each for those.... and they can, and still underprice most stores, cause they order such a volume of them. It's all such a huge rip off.
What happens in the end is that the corporation that people work for give them a pitiful amount of money. The average income per household in the US is $40,000 a year, and that means that 50% of the people make less, and then that money is taxed! Then once they finish taking out taxes, there is about $400.00 or less a week left. Then they have to pay the bank for their house and car payment, which is usually about 33% of what they make. Then the electric company, and other utilities take another $300 to $500 a month. That's usually at least 25%. Then the insurance companies have their way... which is another 10% for car insurance, and another 25% or more for health care, So right there is like 93% of income if people pay their own health insurance, but even if not, it's like 68%. So the average family makes an income of about $770 a week, but only takes home between $400 and $500 a week. Then they pay out about 68% to 70% of that in bills, then ends up with about $125 dollars to spend on groceries, clothing, and anything else they want... and about 25% of the population, make only half that much or less, but still have the same needs and expenses as anyone else. It's easy to understand how people in this catagory end up in the credit card nightmare, when unexpected expenses come up, and then end up paying 25% interest when they can't pay it back.
$40,000 is median income. Living on that is a struggle, but it's managable, as long as nothing major goes wrong. 75% of all households make less than $75,000 a year. One can live comfortably, but certainly not extravagantly on $75,000 a year.
That leaves 25% who are doing a little better than just meeting expenses for a normal life. The next increment is people who are making between $75,000 and $250,000 a year... these people are doing well generally, but many of them still live beyond their means. It seems to be common for people in THAT income bracket to get caught up in having to keep up appearances, and extravagant spending, because of the social class they associate with. Certain things are expected of them, in order for them to keep a job, and social status. IF they do not they are considered strange... and at that level it could impact their jobs.
Only 5% of Americans make more than $250,000 a year... these are the people who could be considered rich... They don't have to worry about money, but they do, probably more than any other group. The greedy fear factor really has a hold on many of them.
Less than one percent of our population is truely rich and powerful. Powerful enough to buy off government, and afford huge influence with media. They own, or are CEOs for these huge corporations. The money goes in their pockets and it does not come back out. These people only spend a tiny percentage of their income, even though they do live extravagantly. Their living expenses are a drop in the bucket compared to the money they are raking in. These people are taking much more than they are giving, and much much more than they need. THAT is what is currently wrong with the monetary system, IMO. Not that we have money, but that it's ending up too far from the average person. We are collectively making a lot of money, and all that money is ending up in just a FEW pockets, because the cost of living makes it very difficult to accumulate any money, or to have any extra money to share with others.
At one time the US had anti-trust laws that prevented monopoly situations, and made sure there was competition in every catagory, but now... IDK what has happened to these laws, but the whole world is being controled and robbed by one percent of the people, while half of us are living on mere sustenence or less, and another 25 percent are comfortable, another 20 percent of us are VERY comfortable, but not truely RICH and POWERFUL... and then like one percent hold almost all the real money.
I see the problem as simply a distribution of wealth problem, not a problem with currency itself. This has been caused by mergers, lobbiests, and lack of regulation of corporations and their unfair policies, which infringe on the rights of all of us. They are telling us what to think, editing the news, to suit their interests, controling our medical care, or lack of it, and running a 'company store' where we end up paying all we make to them. IN short they are trying to enslave us all... BUT we still have a choice. WE can still, seek out small businesses to trade with, we can boycott huge companies. We can choose NOT to have credit cards, and we can also choose NOT to pay them anymore. We can get off the power grid with alternative energy such as solar, or methane, if we are willing to put out the initial investment, or go through the awful mess of producing and using methane... there are still things we can do to fight back. We cannot however live without electricity. Did you know that if you have your power turned off, Social Services considers that grounds to take your children away, till you get the electricity turned back on? So in essence your children can be held hostage and enslave you to the power company.
There are actually many things that you MUST have in order to be considered a fit parent... silly unnecessary things, in some cases. I mean people lived without electricity for thousands of years, but now, doing without it is considered child neglect. Overall the whole of government both liberal and conservative, conspires to tie us into feeding the corporations our last nickle... till we have nothing, and that one percent has it all. Why? Becauase corporations pay them to do their bidding. I could go on, but really I"m sure you are tired of reading. LOL
Kim