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Ian Mcewan

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Why do we need money?

Money is like religion, it is a way of controlling the masses. If you control money you control everything.

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  • Roberto Garcia

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    Aug 15 2012: Well the point is not in the money exactly, but in the things that you can obtain with money. You have electricity because you can give someone some currency in exchange this company or entity supplies you energy. As someone commented right here It exists because we believe it does. We live in a system where "money" or the "power to obtain goods" is what we rely on to live. And this "power to obtain" is variable, some people have more of this power some people have less. Or maybe they think their have less. We are educated to reach high levels of this "power to obtain" not to be self reliant. Because the system needs us to depend on it otherwise it would collapse.

  • Natalia C.

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    Aug 15 2012: "Money only exists if two people believe that it does." -Daniel Suelo, the weird guy who gave up all his money and went to live in a cave.
    I think we have a psychological need for something that puts value in numbers, and to be able to touch and feel the said value. Money is really just paper. What makes this piece of paper worth a dollar? What IS a dollar? Why does that candy bar have the same value as this piece of paper? Because we need it to. When we cease to have faith in the value of money, the money becomes useless. In ancient times, people used seashells, cacao, etc. as money. Before that, people traded random items. (I'll give you a two chairs for that lantern. I'll give a chicken for that cigar.) And before that, I suppose everyone either knew how to share or completely provided for themselves. We evolved into a monetary system for a more consistent means of trading by value. As the world becomes more advanced, trade becomes increasingly important. It is no longer possible to completely provide for ourselves. There is no time to hunt buffalo to eat meat and make clothes if you have a 9-5 job to pay for the house that someone else built while you spent your childhood in school preparing for said job. Money is a crucial part to modern survival because an industrialized world is an inter-dependent world. Sadly, ANY system of value will create greed. Since money is so crucial, those who are greedy and end up with the most of have power over those who need that money to be able to eat and keep a home. I'm sick of it too, but if everyone just threw up their hands and gave up on the concept of money, industrialism would crumble. No more prepackaged foods, no more Fruit of the Loom undies, no more anything that you don't make yourself. No one wants to provide services to people without something in return will provide for them or that they can trade later to provide for their own needs. You'd have to reform society from the bottom up.

  • Dan Geurin 10+

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    Aug 15 2012: If we didn't have money, how would we buy really important things like ipods and cheeseburgers?

  • Ehtesham Akhtar

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    Aug 11 2012: I guess earning money is more of en ego...u remember how u felt jealous when u saw somebody wearing a nice sneaker in school or a new car brought by your friend at your workplace...money is essential for living, but it earning it becomes more of of an ego rather than necessity.

  • Matthew Stephenson

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    Aug 11 2012: money is a way to express power
    its something instinctual that every person on this earth wants and needs no madder what they say
    with out "money" their will always something to replace it "objects","land","people"

  • Sia Jeong

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    Aug 11 2012: If you don't have money, you have nothing.
    Money have been really valuable throughtout the history.

    This money will make our computers, foods, and millions of our neccessary things.
    If we don't it's just having no qualification too type to TED
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    David Hamilton 50+

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    Aug 10 2012: To buy stuff. If you want to live by a river with a fishing line, in a hut... Have fun, but it's gonna be tough to avoid loneliness and predators. If you want to live in a community, you need a medium of exchange. That medium of exchange, should have actual value... but that's another story.

  • Corey McNierney

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    Aug 9 2012: It is a simplified form of exchanges. Imagine if you had to raise chickens or grow food just to trade for this great internet service we all are using. The actual collection of payment would be time consuming and messy.

    Now, if you are speaking in a more socialistic way (if I'm using the term correctly), such as why can't we all just work together and share all that we have, the answer is simple: practicality. It is not a practical approach because humans want more. We want more than what we have, we want more than what our neighbors have. Sharing is a nice concept that we teach our children, but sharing on all levels is allowing for exploitation of others. If I'm going to get the same as you are, what motivation do I have to work harder than you?

    As far as controlling the masses, we want and need for the masses to be controlled. While individual people can be intelligent, they also can be sucked into mass hysteria. For instance, look at the devastation caused by riots. That is what happens without control. It is the those people that have control, the people with the body armor and the big guns, that keep you safe. They are the ones you call when someone is trying to come steal that money that you have.
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    Chetan Somani

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    Aug 9 2012: to fulfill our needs!!!
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    peter lindsay 30+

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    Aug 9 2012: We need money so that when I go and perform at a bar (singer) I don't get paid in barrels of beer (heavy), and then have to exchange those barrels of beer for food at the local market. Money is supposed to be a token representation of an amount of credit I have accrued by supplying goods or services to others, which I can exchange for other goods or services. The problems start when people come up with ways of making money without supplying anything. (commodity trading comes to mind). This degenerates into gambling, you buy/sell the same thing round and round in circles until some one blinks.This artificially inflates the price so the people that actually want to own the commodity can't afford it any more. Then you have a market correction and a recession.
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    James Zhang 30+

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    Aug 9 2012: echoing what Krisztian an Feyisayo said...

    Food.
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    Lawren Jones 10+

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    Aug 8 2012: In the US, we used to have an economic system that functioned without money. We called it slavery. Denying people the right to earn money is the surest way to control the masses.
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    Krisztián Pintér 200+

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    TED Translator
    Aug 8 2012: how about this:

    food i like religion, it is a way of controlling masses. if you control food, you control everything.
    why do we need food?

    see now why your reasoning fails? money allows control exactly because we need it. we all need it, and thus we should not allow anyone, including governments (especially governments) to control it.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Host
    Aug 8 2012: Here is a link that describes what money is and how it allows people to exchange what they can offer that others need for what they need in a way that minimizes what economists call "transaction costs," the unnecessary costs of arranging exchanges. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money
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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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    Aug 8 2012: Do we need more money? Do we really have control? Economic depression comes and billionaires commit suicide.
    We dont need more money. We need our daily bread, a place to sleep, and SO MUCH LOVE.
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