I've been doing a lot of thinking about the nature of money, and what effect it has on our political systems. Surely money is a big factor, but I've been thinking about what exactly our money represents, and I've come to a few conclusions.
Chiefly among these conclusions is that money started as a means of trading skills, labor, and material between people, and that money began as a result of labor. It strikes me now, however, that labor is a result of money. Doesn't this seem a bit backwards to you?
What I've also come to recognize is that we basically have a system of money which has it's foundations in the monetary systems of despots, ancient people who created the money system to allow themselves, and those they trusted to actually be able to put the labor of their subjects into some material form which they could control. Still using this system, it is no suprise than that the vast majority of the money is in the hands of an extremely small group of the population 1-3%. Obviously these people have more money by far than they have earned, and in fact, their money actually is generating money, even though their money isn't really generating any labor, skills, or material by just sitting there.
Stocks seem to be an incredibly big part of our current economic divide, between rich and poor. They also seem to not make any sense. Imagine this: I come to you and say, "I'll loan you 20 bucks in exchange for 1 square foot of your house" and so you do it. Then, you have to pay me back for that 20 bucks and I get to keep the 1 sq. ft. of your home. It makes no sense. So then, I go and I sell that foot of your house to someone else. You don't make any money off it. So, the homeowner, gets pressured by the people who own little chunks of his house to keep making the house more valuable, so he does, but he's not gaining anything by making their pieces more valuable is he?
This is why the stock market makes no sense to me, and why I think it is rediculous that the Federal Reserve bases our entire economy around this make believe world of fake money and imaginary value. The bond market, on the other hand, makes much more sense. A bond is like a loan, you get it, it gains interest, and then you get your money, and that's the end of it.
I've also come to the realization that money is pretty much subjective in value. Poor people will trade a lot more, and do a lot more, to get it, while rich people will throw it away like it's nothing in many cases. The median value to it is basically agreed to by everyone when Greenspan tells them it's worth such and such.
The question here is, with all these issues with money, is there a better system? We have money that is now being used for things it wasn't really meant to be used for, sucuh as generating more money off it's mere existance. We have money not worth the same to everyone, but that can't be fixed without destroying progress. There is an insane gap between rich and poor. Finally, we are still using a money system based on those of despots, which ultimately revolves around the concentration of value, and thus of power.
Is there a better system than this? I've been thinking about it a lot. Communism failed, socialism is lasting longer, but still not doing so well. Capitalism is thriving but at a heavy toll on huge sections of the population. I'm just not sure what the answer is. Money basically requires that some people have more than others, and really that's how it should be, but I find it disturbing when Bill Gates and Larry Elison make over 1 million dollars for every hour they are alive, working or not, and most of that money is made off stocks, an inherently screwed up system.
Any thoughts?
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The Alcove
I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist
The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
Chiefly among these conclusions is that money started as a means of trading skills, labor, and material between people, and that money began as a result of labor. It strikes me now, however, that labor is a result of money. Doesn't this seem a bit backwards to you?
What I've also come to recognize is that we basically have a system of money which has it's foundations in the monetary systems of despots, ancient people who created the money system to allow themselves, and those they trusted to actually be able to put the labor of their subjects into some material form which they could control. Still using this system, it is no suprise than that the vast majority of the money is in the hands of an extremely small group of the population 1-3%. Obviously these people have more money by far than they have earned, and in fact, their money actually is generating money, even though their money isn't really generating any labor, skills, or material by just sitting there.
Stocks seem to be an incredibly big part of our current economic divide, between rich and poor. They also seem to not make any sense. Imagine this: I come to you and say, "I'll loan you 20 bucks in exchange for 1 square foot of your house" and so you do it. Then, you have to pay me back for that 20 bucks and I get to keep the 1 sq. ft. of your home. It makes no sense. So then, I go and I sell that foot of your house to someone else. You don't make any money off it. So, the homeowner, gets pressured by the people who own little chunks of his house to keep making the house more valuable, so he does, but he's not gaining anything by making their pieces more valuable is he?
This is why the stock market makes no sense to me, and why I think it is rediculous that the Federal Reserve bases our entire economy around this make believe world of fake money and imaginary value. The bond market, on the other hand, makes much more sense. A bond is like a loan, you get it, it gains interest, and then you get your money, and that's the end of it.
I've also come to the realization that money is pretty much subjective in value. Poor people will trade a lot more, and do a lot more, to get it, while rich people will throw it away like it's nothing in many cases. The median value to it is basically agreed to by everyone when Greenspan tells them it's worth such and such.
The question here is, with all these issues with money, is there a better system? We have money that is now being used for things it wasn't really meant to be used for, sucuh as generating more money off it's mere existance. We have money not worth the same to everyone, but that can't be fixed without destroying progress. There is an insane gap between rich and poor. Finally, we are still using a money system based on those of despots, which ultimately revolves around the concentration of value, and thus of power.
Is there a better system than this? I've been thinking about it a lot. Communism failed, socialism is lasting longer, but still not doing so well. Capitalism is thriving but at a heavy toll on huge sections of the population. I'm just not sure what the answer is. Money basically requires that some people have more than others, and really that's how it should be, but I find it disturbing when Bill Gates and Larry Elison make over 1 million dollars for every hour they are alive, working or not, and most of that money is made off stocks, an inherently screwed up system.
Any thoughts?
------------------
The Alcove
I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist
The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
