More thoughts about Money

While the statement "Money is the root of all evil" has some truth. The current form that money takes under capitalism is very different from that which existed in pre-capitalist times. When people say we have always had money and always will, they are misinformed. Feudal society may of had money, but it was a minor factor in the overall economic system. Most economic relationships in feudal society where mediated by kinship bonds, religion, and other factors, rather than by the almighty dollar. Money was used by very few wealthy people and the vast majority of people would have little contact with it, day in and day out.

However, under our current economic system (capitalism) money, has become a means in and off itself. It is currently impossible to function successfully without money. The role that money plays as the "universal commodity" is a major factor in the daily exploration, human misery, and inequality we witness all around us.

What is the purpose of money under capitalism? One would imagine it is to purchase the goods/services you need to survive. You work a job, get paid, and then use the money to rent a house, buy groceries and live your life

While this may be true for the majority of us. If you are a business owner or investment banker (re: capitalist) this is not the case. People in these positions no longer need money to purchase things, but instead use things (commodities) to get money. As the universal store of value, money is better than things. Even with Hummers, Rocket Cars and Solid Gold Houses there is a natural limit on the amount of stuff that can be owned/used. However there is no limit to the amount of money one can have.

Additionally, money can be put to use to generate more wealth. Through the purchasing products for sale, investment in production, lending at interest, and the multitude of other methods which exist under capitalism to generate wealth, money is the ultimate factor in generating more money. In fact money must be used in this way, as, left to its own devices, it will loose value over time.

This never ending cycle is what drives the capitalist system. It creates the need for ever expanding compound growth. Additionally, it sets people against each other by creating an endless competition to generate the most money from the least amount of starting money.

This relationship leads directly to the explotation of working people. If the goal is to have more money at the end of the day then you did at the begining there are only a few ways to do this. The most classic method is to employe people to turn raw materials into more finished goods that you can sell at a profit. Even with all the technological wonders around us human labour remains the only way to add value to a given process. At some point people must work to turn raw materials, concepts, and technological processes into an object that can be sold for a price. By exploiting the ability of people to create things, selling them at a price higher than the cost to create them, capitalists extract value from working people. The cheaper this can be done, and the less you can pay people to do it, the more profit is to be gained, and the more efficient your process of transferring money, into commodities, and back into more money will be.

Money in its current form is both a biproduct of the current economic system and an essential element of its success, while doing all we can to minimize our reliance may be a useful symbolic gesture. They key remains to dismantle the system that relies on it and replace it with something that does not have the exploitation of working people at its base.