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Jarek Steliga

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You cannot eat money, or make clothes, or build a house out of it.

In this day and age when it is politically correct to be out of work and complain on being hard up I propose to reflect whether this widely proclaimed poverty is real or faked. If it is MONEY that you are after, then I have no remedy. You will be poor (in the sense that you have not enough) forever. If however you are able bodied and need food, shelter and security for yourself and your loved ones, and live in a town or a city and no-one wants to employ you and pay you for your work enough to cover your basic needs, then move to the country, grab the fork and shovel and produce your own kitchen veggies, keep a pork or two and some chickens. Chances are someone will help you build a decent house in exchange for the food which you have in excess. I agree individual small scale farming and husbandry is not efficient, but who wants the efficient when clearly efficiency does not prevent hunger and what is more is directly the cause of so much unemployment. Believe me, you will be happy as a lark provided it is not money that is your object in life!

Topics: Unemployment economy financial crisis poverty
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  • Kapalli Srirama

    • 0
    TED Translator
    Feb 13 2013: Practically it so happens that - Higher an employee is paid more his Advise is asked (Even-though it totally wrong advise). Guess this is the reason most big corporations have very costly failures on their hands most of the time.
    Society does not accept this fact and most people become victims of this.

  • ZX Style 10+

    • 0
    Feb 10 2013: You cannot eat money, or make clothes, or build a house out of it.

    YES YOU CAN!

    give my enough stacks of paper money and i make you a house.
    I doubt it has enough nutritions, but money is edible.
    And clothes is also possible!
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    Justin Elkin

    • +1
    Feb 7 2013: I was telling some coworkers of mine that very same thing. "You can't eat an ebt card" I like what Greg said,"we simply need to work on caring less about things and more about people and we'll be happier." I've tried to learn as much as I can and it seems the more you know the less money is needed to sustain yourself.

  • shawn disney 10+

    • +1
    Feb 7 2013: Money is just book-keeping, basically. A clever invention to facilitate people's life choices. So that everybody is not required to spend a lot of time hoeing beans etc. Not that I have any thing other than respect for people who do. But I remember a song from WW1: "How are you going to keep them down on the farm, after they've seen Paree?" It is quite wrong to say that efficency doesn't prevent hunger; it is a "necessary but not sufficient" thing. Without efficency, and cheap and plentiful energy, it is not possible to live a civilised life, unless you are a very non-typical person. If you look at the history over thousands of years, it is clear that people have always "migrated" to where there was a better lifestyle when they had the chance, or the need. Subsistance agriculture is only fun if you don't have to do it.We are at a critical period right now. In the West, we have had a pretty comfortable time of it, relativelly, because of the Industrial Revolution and cheap coal and oil. Now that is playing out. But there is a viable alternative in existence. Nuclear Fission power is a million times more "Energy Dense" that coal or oil. And it is not necessary to use the common, obselete Uranium LWR Fukushima type reactors which are so scary and troublesome. The Thorium Liquid Fureled Reactlor (LFTR) is not widely known , but it should be , for a great mnay reasons. Thorium is so cheap, and powerful, that it could make a civlised life possible for everyone on the planet. And note that civilised nations really do not have overpopulation problems to nullufy this, either.
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    John Moonstroller 20+

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    Jan 31 2013: The peasents who were overlooked by the nobles were such a people, living a life as you describe. I'd say it was a failed lifestyle, given up in the pursuit for money.

    If you are a social castaway, it may be the only process between you and death.

  • Greg Swanson

    • +4
    Jan 28 2013: To add a little to your argument Jarek, I ask that people take a look at the bottom graph on page 45 of this (http://www.columbia.edu/~xs23/papers/pdfs/World_Income_Distribution_QJE.pdf). You will see the world distribution of income (WDI) per captia and also the same distribution for many countries in year 2000. Put shortly, the results indicate a fairly normal distribution of income and importantly, the income scale drops off to almost 0% at $100,000 USD. Based on these numbers, I have two points. First, it seems there are people still pissed at the 1% in this world. I've been there, but looking at some of these graphs, something hit me. MANY OF US ARE THE 1%. Yes there are some Billionaires out there that may not worry about money, but it seems that if we include countries outside the U.S., we need to make less than $100K a year to be in the top 1%. Correct me if I'm wrong of course. This leads me to our second point, something I want to call Greg's law of jealousy. It doesn't matter where we are at on the income scale, we often view those richer than us as rich and those poorer than us as poor (or maybe it's just me). That said, I think it's a slap in the face for many U.S. people to be pissed about their financial situation. We still have it better than many, and we will never all be the richest. I wrote in another post and I'll write it again; we simply need to work on caring less about things and more about people and we'll be happier. Simple as that. I'll start working on myself.

    Sorry for the rant, it's late.
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      Pabitra Mukhopadhyay 30+

      • +3
      Feb 7 2013: I don't think it's rant.
      If money, however failed as an economic instrument in the US, is ticket to consumption of world's resources, it is dangerously held with a scant little population on earth. I have grown out of the illusion of free enterprise and level playing field that Capitalism preaches because I have reasons to believe after someone accumulates some good money, it's growth is not anymore proportional to labor and industry but scheming and strategy.
      Someone told me that if all the money, printed, in bonds and debts, are summed up together the cumulative promise of its exchange value in terms of resources will be few times of that of world can ever produce. If this is true - there is false promise somewhere.
      I know it will not be very appealing to one who is starting his/her life but the race after money is an old trick that he/she has to give up. Real investment, instead, may be adding value to lives of people in every little way - by creating a common pool of resources and services with zero money value but immensely priceless.

  • Dan F 50+

    • +1
    Jan 28 2013: Our numbers on this planet and lifestyles demand sophisticated social systems just to maintain our needs let alone our wants. The use of money is basic to a certain amount of convenience and security. Unfortunately it is also used by those wealthy among us to gain power and impose their will and influence on how thing are done to their benefit. Sometimes justifiable, but all too often too self serving for them and those that rule.

    I share your concern about the short comings of capitalism, etc., but in my way of thinking, we no longer have the liberty or option to reinvent or redirect to any significant degree the status quo and the vestment of what got us to where we are now. The monetary system aspect of governments is subject to failures. The wealthy can become victims of their own greed if the system(s) breaks down. Short of that potential crisis they will undoubtably stay the course, even as Rome burns.

    On another note, the production of too many babies by the poor is a self defeating practice by continuing to INCREASE our planetary numbers which is only making the monetary system function to better favor the wealthy. Look around the world. Kids are wading in sewage and sifting through garbage in significant numbers and the money system is meaningless to them. Too many people essentially operate without money now. We recently broke the seven billion mark and many of you (I'm likely too old) will still be alive when we likely will break ten billion. Does anyone really believe that this fact isn't a huge contributer to the lowering of the worldwide standards of living and quality of life? People with less will alway be easier for the rich to manage, so the problem will only get worse with time as the population numbers grow.

  • David Grammer

    • 0
    Jan 28 2013: This suggestion parallels the colonization efforts of the 17th C. which resulted in extremely high mortality rates and those people were much more closely aligned to an agrarian lifestyle than modern city dwellers. I'm also curious if you have several thousand acres of land that you're willing to open up on a first come first served basis.

  • Melia Person

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    Jan 26 2013: Ahh but alas, the people that proclaim this poverty are currently living off of taxpayer money for literally doing nothing. Therefore, why would they want to work for themselves to keep clothes on their backs, roof over their heads and food in their bellies? Also in this society money is just simply the name of the game and thats it.

  • jay random

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    Jan 24 2013: in this economy profit is the name of the game not morality and empithy

  • jay random

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    Jan 24 2013: money is the root of all evil and i truely believe this. its not just the people in america that are out of work, its also whole countries that have been brought to their knees because the world banks have come to these countries and offerd help with the hidden motive of getting them into more debt then they can repay. these countries are then forced to give up their resources for very cheap instead of these resources (and the profits of them) going back to the people from which they came. the world banks are the ones to blame but you will never see them brought to justice cause they have the whole world in debt to them. they distibute the wealth to a very few and the rest have to scrape by. i also do not believe in giving hand outs but alowing these people to prvide for them selves in a manner which dose not depend on money would be a great thing for the world

    • Greg Swanson

      • +1
      Jan 28 2013: If you were quoting the bible, then it is THE LOVE of money is the root of all evil and I believe this. I don't think money is inherently bad, just when one chooses money over more important things. Simplified, I think something is wrong when people choose things over people (to a degree of course). Interestingly, it seems we hear a common argument that to me seems flawed. That is that we feel the homeless/welfare recipients should get jobs and contribute, but then we look at people with a lot of money as some evil curse on the world. I think often deep down it is jealousy and unhappines that one looks down on someone that doesn't have to do as much as they. The truth is that you don't have to work so hard either, but you then have to forgo your ipad/tv/internet/car/home-ownership. I think when we can master the skill of not being jealous, we will be much more happy. I really think the world would work out just fine if we all decided to work part-time and just buy/have less.

      You can say that my experience has been that I've made very good money for a time, lived a good couple of years, but then went jobless,broke, and homeless. The contrast was a really good learning experience and really taught me a lot about people and about my desire for things. For the rest of my life, I really don't want to make a lot of money and won't envy those that do because they often trade a good portion of their time for the flashy things.

      BTW, there is a new prediction/forecast by 'scientists' that the rate of population growth is declining. Important, the RATE of population growth. Feel free to do the research, but I recall that we are expected to top out at 9 billion people and then decline/maintain.

  • Haingo Rajaonarison

    • +2
    Jan 22 2013: Money is just a tool that can help us get what we want..However, without our mind ,spirit and body, money would not do us any good .It is possible to get what we truly want without spending any money.We just need to use our mind, our self-confidence and our energy wisely and patiently.For example ,if I truly want to learn a new language, there are tons of free resources here on the internet.
    What we are actually looking for in life is never money but pleasure and "anti-pain".If we really really loved money ,we would never spend it.

  • Isabelle Morgan

    • +1
    Jan 22 2013: Who pays hydro ? You can buy solar panels but with what ? Wind power is also an option but who foots that bill. Somewhere along the line you have to be a part of society if only out of sheer inevitable needs such as the fact that if everyone burns wood fuel pollution esculates dramatically. I wish life were this simple however it is not especially in areas where it snows. Someone might help you build a house but who is buying the materials and tools to accomplish said task on land you might not be permitted to build on since without money you can't possibly buy that land to build on in the first place, unless you are a squatter and in most cases no one will support that lifestyle either.
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    Robert Winner 50+

    • +2
    Jan 21 2013: Jarek, We have three gardens, some animals, a bycicle that converts wheat to flower when pedaled, a electric wind generator, a well, etc ... I am retired three times and have sufficient funds. We help provide the local orphanage with meat, eggs, veggies, etc ... We give to the windowed ... cut firewood ... and do quilting.

    Life has been very good to us and we give back. All of these efforts are very time consuming and darn hard work. The point is that some can sit and bitch when given lemons and some open a limonade stand. I am sick of the war against the 1% by Obama when he has a aunt and uncle on welfare and is a multimillionare. Talk is cheap. There is plenty of work but the entitlement programs have made it unreasonable to get a job when being unemployed is much more lucerative. Give hand up and stop the hand outs.

    But as Random Chance stated below ... this is just the rant of the brainshed on ted. I really felt pretty good until I found out how brainwashed and stupid I was. Guess I should thank him for straightening me out.

    I, as you, do these things because they please me and I feel makes a difference to those less fortunate.

    Bob.

    • Brock Hardwood

      • +1
      Jan 22 2013: In case you have been living in a cave for the last 6 years....The economy DID crash. The millions unemployed right now were perfectly fine with being employed prior to that crash. It isn't a question of laziness, it is the reality that there aren't very many jobs being offered relative to the number of bona fide job seekers out there.

      This isn't about hating the 1%, it is about caring about the struggles of the 99%. When did you wake up and decide you hated most Americans? Most are hard workers. They deserve decent pay, access to healthcare, a reasonable opportunity at home ownership, and occasional leisure time and happiness. They don't deserve working conditions like the Chinese currently face - 12 to 16 hour days with nothing to show for it.

      It is time to face facts. Trust fund billionaires aren't helping our economy. They are living off the wealth earned by the true innovators and job creators of many generations ago, and are doing little more in life than that. They are nothing more than an undeserving pseudo royalty whose only interest is protecting that unearned wealth. Send that money back to the bottom in the form of jobs with a meaningful estate/trust fund tax and meaningful progressive tax structure, and let that money rise back up to the top and into the hands of our modern day innovators and job creators.

      • Ben Jarvis 50+

        • +1
        Jan 22 2013: true. the rich don't create jobs, customers do. henry ford wouldn't have employed anyone if nobody could afford to buy a car.

      • Jarek Steliga

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        Jan 22 2013: Brock, are you sure that trust fund billionaires could (if they wanted to) send their money back to the bottom in the form of jobs? I doubt it. We should not blame the billionaires for the rampant unemployment across the US and Europe. IMO the main reason for this is the absence of trade barriers. Indo-China produces everything more cheaply, that's all. But this cannot continue indefinitely. Once a new economic equilibrium is reached and established, Americans and Europeans will again find it profitable to produce things for themselves. We just must be patient. It is also very important that while waiting for that equilibrium to return, Americans and Europeans should maintain their skills, so that when things change people will not have to learn everything from scratch. And believe me, our modern day innovators and job creators stand not a chance against the tidal wave of new global economic reality. Also no amount of hollering at the pseudo royalty is going to be helpful. This is just barking up the wrong tree.

        • Brock Hardwood

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          Jan 23 2013: Obviously you didn't understand the mechanism proposed....

          Estate/trust fund taxes are taxes on transfers of wealth from one generation to the next...

          "in the form of jobs" are the jobs government creates by spending those taxes.

          Trade is part of the problem, but equilibrium can mean one of two things, either declining standards for the American worker or increasing standards for the Chinese worker. Given Chinese efforts to artificially keep weak the value of their currency, it is clear that the American worker is the one that will pay the price. This is unacceptable.

          Maintaining a strong middle class maximizes demand for goods and services, and as such, maximizes GDP growth.

    • Jarek Steliga

      • 0
      Jan 22 2013: Bob, all is not lost when there people like you around. I wish I lived somewhere close by to benefit from your example and advice in gardening, animal husbandry and that wind generator (since you do not strike me as one begrudging advice to anybody).

  • Brock Hardwood

    • +2
    Jan 21 2013: "You cannot eat money, or make clothes, or build a house out of it."

    true, but you can:

    1. Grow food to sell, and buy clothes or a house with the money
    2. Make Clothes to sell, and buy food or a house with the money
    3. Build houses to sell, and buy food or clothes with the money

    Money just makes the exchange easier.

    • Jarek Steliga

      • 0
      Jan 21 2013: Brock, I have to admit that I was using the small scale farming example somewhat figuratively. I am not as atavistic as my post makes me look. I am not against money as a means of exchange. I am not against cars, washing machines, microwaves, artificial light in my flat and certainly not against COMPUTERS !!!!! :-) I do not want to turn the clock back and see people living in trees again.
      I guess what I wanted to say in my post was that I want people to grow food to sell, make clothes to sell, build houses to sell and do all those things which people see/understand the point of doing. I had been doing something which I did not see any point of doing (apart from money which I got paid) for many years. I had been miserable. I chucked the job and now I am happy. Veeeeery poooooor but happy. I make sure that whatever I do, I do with conviction. I hope that makes sense. Thanks for the comment.

  • carolyn mcauley 10+

    • +1
    Jan 20 2013: money,ahhhh,for me is a board game marker,showing in increiments whether you get to buy Boardwalk,or scoop up more then my share of the resources. Money,well intentioned,and yet in the hands of a skillfull player..we never intuited it would become our prison so now what? Do we know who has the most money,do they pay for war,buy newspapers,governments,education systems? Or is that not what a skilled player would want,and why not? All the answers are painfully disappointly tracable.Small scale farming,and leaving the city could be one answer...maybe there is something in between...anew behaviour,a new hero,new values..When I speak of the terminally rich,I often say"Its not there fault they were born that way" it indicates the veil of seperration they will be under that seperrates them from reality..this is a shame and it taints their ability to make judgements...I stopped admiring them,to be envious..I speak often about the history of violence placed on the peoples of Europe that influenced them behave in ways unnatural to men unscarred..our history to me is basically evidence of endless adjustments applied by a few...do you know who they are?..Learning to farm is good selfpreservation policy..why not,soil is an essential primal right..it is how a man is rooted to the earth..where life originates..degrees of seperation from the earth will always allow another to sever your roots..You must talk genuinely,knowledgably about the core essentials..otherwise we build a dialogue that psychologically takes us away from the page we may all agree we would like to be on

    • Jarek Steliga

      • 0
      Jan 21 2013: Carolyn I like your whole comment but in particular this statement, " ... When I speak of the terminally rich, I often say, "it's not their fault, they were born that way"". I would take that statement one step further. WE ALL SUFFER FROM THAT TERMINAL CONDITION. Only in majority of us it is dormant. If we were to anihilate the 1% so much railed against by the 99%, what would be the result? My bet is, a new 1% (in terms of personnel) would set themselves up in two or three weeks. The remaining 99% (more or less) would be as miserable as before (perhaps a bit more for having blood on their hands). And if the process of murdering the current 1% were repeated a sufficient number of times, chances are you and I would find ourselves among the number of ... 1%!!! What I am saying is that if a very shy, withdrawn person crashlanded on a desert island with a group of people who were even more shy and withdrawn, then it would be only a matter of time before that person assumed a leading position and became the much hated oppressor. It is all relative. We always assume positions of power that are available to us, whether we like it or not (and whether we are willing to admit to ourselves or not) That is why ALL revolutions failed. They all attacked a wrong enemy. The real enemy is in ... OURSELVES! Unless people start to fight the real enemy, humanity is doomed to go through these eternal cycles of PEACE (growing economic tension between rich and poor) and WAR (release of tension).
      I believe the "phase" which humanity is now at, is that of growing economic tension reaching the point of release. The only popular move which can deliver us is popular turning our backs on the world based on money and instead falling back on something which we can all understand and have faith in. We can look for ways to feed ourselves. Not through bonds, shares, hedge funds and the like but through small scale farming which on top of providing food, is certain to restore our self-dignity.

  • prakhar porwal

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    Jan 20 2013: Money is a good that acts as a medium of exchange in transactions. Classically it
    is said that money acts as a unit of account, a
    store of value, and a medium of exchange. Most
    authors find that the first two are nonessential
    properties that follow from the third. In fact, other
    goods are often better than money at being intertemporal stores of value, since most monies
    degrade in value over time through inflation or
    the overthrow of governments.

  • Random Chance 30+

    • 0
    Jan 18 2013: Money is a means of creating greed and crime which lead to inequality, which leads to poverty, slavery and eventually war and death investments.
    It is not just a means of exchange.
    That is sugar-coating evil.

    It's quite ingenious to blame poor people for poverty,
    It's really amazing to read the rantings of brainwashed humans here on Ted.
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      Krisztián Pintér 200+

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      TED Translator
      Jan 18 2013: do you claim that without money, we would have less greed, crime, inequality, poverty, war and death?

    • Don Anderson 20+

      • 0
      Jan 20 2013: Firstly I did not blame the poor; it is through no fault of their own that the poor do not have the proper tools need to provide a service. Tools like a good education and a safe place to live and work.

      How is it money’s fault we have evils like domestic abuse, race hate crimes, religious hatred and wars, sex crimes, and so on.
      I’m sure people got killed for their food, shelter, or clothes long before there was money.

  • Don Anderson 20+

    • +1
    Jan 16 2013: Money is just a means to exchange services, and one more effective the bartering system.

    Poverty comes from too many not providing a service or a service that is not desired.
    Rather you use bartering or money to exchange makes no difference, you still need to provide a wanted service.

    Now to be happy you need to find a service that your good at, enjoy doing and that is wanted by others., good luck.

  • Ben Jarvis 50+

    • +2
    Jan 16 2013: i've never thought of money as being pieces of paper, rather as a kind of open-ended IOU. if one of my kids has a disease, and i have nothing that a doctor is interested in trading for a cure, then i would be in trouble. however thanks to money, even if there is nothing i have that the doctor wants, i can trade money for service, and the doctor can then use to money to get what they do need. when i work for money i don't work for the money itself. society benefits from my expertise, and i benefit from the expertise of various individuals throughout that society. when i have a house built it will be built by people with much better building skills than i have, and with materials superior to those which i would be able to gather myself. why would i farm? even with my best efforts i would not be able to produce the same quality of food or even one-thousands of the amount of food that a professional producer could, so why not leave it to the experts?

    people like to seethe against today's society but for misguided reasons. the way it's set up today everybody does more or less what they do well, which saves society time, time which is used for the pleasures in life such as art, travel, and participating in intelligent discussions on websites.

  • Mary M. 100+

    • 0
    Jan 15 2013: Jarek,

    Look what someone wrote on the wall of this artist's project......it comes on the screen at around 3:28

    http://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to.html

    • Jarek Steliga

      • +4
      Jan 15 2013: Yes, top of the list! I want to live without money. I must underline however that it was not my intention to discard the idea of money altogether. Money is a wonderful and useful invention which makes the exchange of useful work easier. The key is your attitude towards money. There is nothing wrong with money as long as you do not think of it as a goal. Look at money as a RESULT of your work. Just make sure that whatever it is you are doing in exchange for money, you completecly understand and aprove of. Conversly, never engage in anything you are unsure about just because it pays, PARTICULARLY when it pays good. Easier said than done, eh? Well, I dumped my job 3 years ago, because I felt that by doing what I was doing I was making not only my life miserable but equally so that of other people. I was well paid for tormenting myself and others, so the decision was not an easy one. Now I live hand to mouth, but enjoy being frugal and resolute (am even planning to amend my diet with plants from my own kithen garden this season), but above all I enjoy some (growing) respect for myself, which is more that I could boast of 3 years ago.
      Good luck Mary M.

      • shawn disney 10+

        • 0
        Feb 7 2013: Jarek: your wish to live without money is an honorable one, and people have often lived that way in large numbers, in Monasteries, Armies, and Churches. But to face facts, most people are not up to the challenge, and there is really no reason they should have to live austerely in an economy as "wealthy" as ours is. And it could be much more so, since a safe type of nuclear energy is available . Remember, civilised life depends on coal and oil, but nuclear is a MILLION times more powerful than that. Right now, the 1% is operating as if we were in an "economy of scarcity" i.e repression and imposed class structure. But that is an obselete way of thinking, just as the Feudal System was, and for about the same reasons.
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    W. Ying 10+

    • +1
    Jan 15 2013: Yes!
    Your are right!
    "If it is MONEY that you are after, then I have no remedy. You will be poor (in the sense that you have not enough) forever. "

    Our gaol of life is to keep our DNA alive. Not for MONEY.
    For money is for INVALID happiness.
    INVALID happiness will leads us to greed, economic crises, wars, .... human self-extinction.


    (For INVALID happiness, see the 1st article, points 1-3, 14, at https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=D24D89AE8B1E2E0D&id=D24D89AE8B1E2E0D%21283&sc=documents)

  • Jarek Steliga

    • 0
    Jan 14 2013: Very depressing picture of the world John Smith. Very depressing. I gather you are a great believer in 1%/ 99% divide. I see the 1% as just the tip of the iceberg. Guess who constitutes the underwater part of this model? Yeah, the 99%. Whether you like it or not, we all contribute to the situation. We all have a stake in the system. We all in our brainwashed minds believe that we stand to benefit from our bank savings, from our pension funds and the like. We are all petty speculators, except that most of us are amsteurs and therefore we are bound to lose to professional players. Contrary to your belief, my belief is that if we the 99% stop taking part in the rat race, then the World Financial Institutions of which you are so fearful, will crumble onto itself much as the World Trade Center did. The big corporations, the financial elite of this world depends for their very existence on the greed of the 99%! Once that greed disappears, the game is over! So I prefer to live in my world, in my wonderworld in which money is just means, not an end. And I will start pulling my hair out only when my world is invaded and encroached on by the reality which you believe in. I guess I just do not want to waste one second of my precious and enjoyable time here on Earth on worrying sick of what the future can possibly throw at me.

    • John Smith 30+

      • +1
      Jan 14 2013: To answer this I shall use your own wording: "you cannot eat money, or make clothes, or build a house out of it, but money gives you the power to make someone else give you food, a house or clothing"

      If 99% of the people stopped caring about money the economy would collapse along with financial institutions but after a while the other 1% would come back on top and dominate the rest. You don't need central banks and limited liability corporations to transmute money into power, just the very act of consuming more gives power. It's also not something exclusively between the 1% and the 99%, that's just the most extreme case.

      Until either 100% of the people stop caring about money (or devise another economic system) or the people that stop caring can find ways of isolating themselves from the people who don't stop caring (probably through force, or the threat of force, since it's the only way to exert power other than having more wealth), you will be affected by the wealth of other people.

    • Random Chance 30+

      • +1
      Jan 16 2013: Jarek.
      Hope you don't mind or were you being facetious and I missed it?
      There is basically no greed on the side of the 99%, as far as I can see.
      Since there is a 1% on which you agree has it all, then they are the greedy ones and not the 99%.
      The 99% are just trying to survive and sometimes wind up doing things they wouldn't ordinarily do, because of this desperation-induced need and desire to survive. Then, because of this need and this right to survive, someone calls them greedy.

      To change this does not require people to stop "caring about money".
      They have to be willing to stop using it. They have to stop giving their power to it. They have to stop believing and begin learning that they don't need money. Along the way, then I guess they would wind up not caring about money. So maybe in that way you're right.

      And why do we need to stop using money, to stop giving power to it and to stop caring about it?
      Because nothing costs money. Everything costs people.
      Things don't "get done" because of money.
      Things "don't get done" because of money.

      We will still get things done without money and that may soon be the reality of the world.
      It will be a chance to function without it and take away the power of those who have falsely lied to use about the need for money. It is their need, not ours, in order to gain control of others, maintain control of others and use others against others. Why are they striving so hard to simultaneously end it and also to keep it going?
      First, ending it means they can then present to the world a one global currency which still means a monetary system which is unjust and won't work --- for the average person.
      Secondly, keeping it afloat keeps people believing they need it and they remain dependent upon it.

      Real beneficial change is inclusive of everyone on earth, is beneficial to all and is ultimately peaceful, not damaging and is real economy, and that is achieved by not using money and finding another way. We can do that.

    • shawn disney 10+

      • 0
      Feb 7 2013: Jarek : you're right about the possiblity of collapse, leaving the Wealthy stranded. But they are usually too arrogant to notice in time. The fact is that people are sociable, "Groups" are real, and cooperation is what makes civilization possible. But note, what gives "Money" its power is Cheap Energy, which permits a lot of construction of various kinds. Otherwise, one could say that the leaders of Zimbabwe are "powerful", (they have lots of money), but they are not, because all they have is Police Power, like Feudal Lords.

  • John Smith 30+

    • +4
    Jan 14 2013: Calling money a distraction is a luxury for those who already have money. In this world we need money for survival and money translates directly into power. It is foolish to think that you won't be affected when another person accumulates much more money than you. That other person will get to decide how much pollution there is in your drinking water, who you can or cannot marry and what and how much your children will learn during their education, even who lives and who dies, and when that person makes the tiniest mistake you lose your job.

    When we decide to get rid of mindless accumulation of wealth we need to do it together, all of us.
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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

    • +2
    Jan 14 2013: Money has become a god in the world because of unbridled materialism, greed, corruption and other manifestations of desperation to have more money. 1 Timothy 6:6 says "Godliness with contentment is great gain." verse 10 says "for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows".

    So, money is good for the provision of basic needs (food, decent accomodation for family, clothing and other comforts of living).

    But when money becomes an obsession as it has now become, when it becomes the first consideration in everything and when our life is only guided by the acquisition of material things, then comes the problem.
    This is where the world is; we have a culture of materialism and we seem to mistake being 'free to be bound' for being 'free'.

    • Mary M. 100+

      • +1
      Jan 15 2013: And here's another bit of goodly advice on money, which is in harmony with your comment:

      “wisdom is for a protection the same as money is for a protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom itself preserves alive its owners.” (Ecclesiastes 7:12)

      Given the option.....I opt for wisdom.

    • Brock Hardwood

      • +1
      Jan 20 2013: "1 Timothy 6:6 says..."

      No need to bring fiction into the discussion.

  • george lockwood 20+

    • +1
    Jan 14 2013: You can buy these things with money. The answers to your "real or faked" point is related to the individual. You could be being somewhat naive or callous to most of these individuals. Now think of the word "unfortunate" to describe them as Alain de Botton suggested in his most recent Ted talk.

    • Jarek Steliga

      • 0
      Jan 15 2013: Many thanks for mentioning Alain de Botton. I was fascinated by his TED talk and also watched some of his viedeos on YouTube. Great stuff.
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