Why is it that we are so obsessed with money

Why is it that we are so obsessed with money in this country, the Economy could collapse tomorrow but does it really have to spell our ultimate doom? For example lets say the worst case Scenario plays out, the dollar is worthless, but wasn't it always worthless just like gold Money only holds value because we give it that value. If we found ourselves in such a crisis why could the people not work together.

It does not take money to Hunt, or Fish or grow Crops, even the most well prepared Individual will come to a time when his stock of food and water runs out, and what will they do then? We will find that if this financial meltdown comes to head that our only hope is to lean on one another! Our parents teach us about sharing and charity and helping others perhaps this will be when it will sink in.

I could see communities growing and Harvesting crops, hunting and fishing to survive if need be Pulling together to survive I do not fear being with out money I have been all my life just scraping by If need be I can hunt, I can fish and I can grow food from the earth, and I will not allow a hungry man woman or child pass me if it is my power to help them!

It is said that money is the root of all evil perhaps we will be better of with out it, perhaps mankind will learn what is more important is helping one another and surviving not winning the game of life, for that is all that money is a way of keeping score!

I absolutely agree.

Money never has been anything else but a concept to control the masses,
society has never needed money to survive, a monetary system is not a
sign of development, but one of degradation and backward thinking. There
will come a time where money will cease to exist, and the mere thought of
it will make us disgusted, remembering all the carnage it caused.

i agree as well, i really dislike money,

it seems like everyone i know cant do a thing without spending some of it
be it drinking, smoking, movies, going to get food,

i wish i could live someplace where money had never been

reply to post by Verd_Vhett


3 steps to outlaw money

1. Counterfeit money.
2. Crash capitalism.
3. Activate The Venus Project.

Perhaps "We are obsessed with money" because we are very shallow inside.

There are several quotes on money:

Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal, there is no human relation between master and slave (Leo Tolstoy).

When money was invented, they didn't need to chain the slave anymore.

All the money, power, fighting, squabbling, disagreement.
None of it matters.
Its not whats important.
And I think that's why we are here, to figure that out.
Many do not figure that out.
So perhaps they get sent back
The way the powers at be have made this world, is so even if you don't want money, you need to have something to do with it, just to live.
This is how they have tried to make EVERY person, participate in there evil.
This is why they have public holidays for Christmas, which isn't even Jesus's birthday, its Saturnalia.
They force the evil on everyone.

I have to say, I really don't get this line of thinking. I think overwhelming desire for money may be the root of all evil or desiring to have money as a status symbol may be, but money itself?? Money is just a representation of the perceived value of your contribution. Now I understand "value" and "contribution" are subjective, but come on.

I am completely open to enlightenment on this issue, but I would ask the following questions;

What do all the people that make non-essential items do? Do things like the film industry, musicians, artists cease to exist? People would say that it's not a necessity, although I would disagree. How would you pay people like that? Or not even pay, how would you shelter, clothes, feed them?

In this circumstance, I would leave the city pretty quick, as would millions of others, that would be looking for some land to farm.

I don't know, it sounds pretty primitive to me. I'm not saying that is necessarily a bad thing on all fronts, but....I need an explanation of a better plan.

The last week and a half I have been having heated conversations about money with friends and family. It would be so nice without it. Sometimes I wish I could just put a sign on my door, stating my withdrawal from the system, and just live...

SnF

reply to post by lellomackin


If you have not already known about The Venus Project, please check out my signature link.
Thanks

On the most basic level, we as beings are constantly fighting entropy. To maintain our lives, we need to import energy from outside our bodies into our bodies, we need shelter from the elements, and we need (or at least are programmed to strongly desire) to reproduce. These are basic, irreducable needs.

Money, at its root, is one way of facilitating transactions of energy that allow the realization of the above basic human needs. It is not the only possible way, but rest assured that whatever system we select to satisfy our basic needs as organisms, it will involve at least some level of suffering, effort, and misery, because sustaining life itself and fighting entropy entails suffering, effort, and misery. In other words, if we weren't complaining about money, we'd be complaining about whatever energy/value storage and transfer system we'd choose to replace it with.

On a slightly less fundamental level, we as a culture are obsessed with money beyond the satisfaction of our basic survival needs because our culture has emerged in such a way that LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, and RESPECT have become equated with material posession. This is psychic poison, to be sure...spiritual rot of the most foul sort. And yet it is an integral part of our current system (capitalism) because capitalism demands eternal growth. It's not enough merely to preserve the level of value -- in order for capitalism to function, the level of value itself must grow, or the entire system collapses. One way of ensuring this growth is to psychologically tie needs such as love, acceptance, and respect into material aquistion. Ultimately, however, this strategy will fail because growth will eventually bump up against actual physical limits. Whether this is what is currently happening, or whether the system has some years or even decades to go before it collapses, remains to be seen.

reply to post by lellomackin


How did we pay them, BEFORE MONEY?
Ask yourself that.
Who benefits, the most, from us paying them WITH MONEY?
Ask yourself that.
Look where bank notes originated.
In Imperial China!
en.wikipedia.org...
Money is like an MLM scheme, the person who invented it, at the top, gets the most benefit.
Not the people using it.
Money is the largest cause of suffering, murder, death, lying, cheating, stealing, disease, on this planet.
Even more than RELIGION!
It was made by evil, to spread EVIL!

Question: "Why is it that we are so obsessed with money"

Answer: Because money is peoples new "god". We can no longer eat, sleep, drive, etc without it.

We're obsessed with money for the same reason lizards are obsessed with crickets - in the current environment we need money to survive; to house and clothe ourselves legally, to acquire food legally, to protect ourselves legally.

Money = survival in the modern world.

That said, we have cultured an unhealthy obsession with material goods that are, strictly speaking, totally unnecessary.

The population of large game wouldn't last a year if everyone in the country relied on it. Similarly, without a serious investment in agricultural technology, our current production is insufficient to support our population.

So, if the fit hit the shan tommorrow, it wouldn't be long at all before we were completely destitute, without food, without water, without any hope of peaceful co-existence and mutual survival.

Game populations and crops, properly managed, could sustain us, but that would require selfless cooperation and a great deal of planning and forethought. In other words, we're doomed.

I don't think money is the problem.
It's materialism, greed, envy.
Money just makes those things very portable.

the man with 3 cows will always envy the man with 10 cows.
the granaries used to be ransacked, now it's the treasury (even as i type).

Besides, have you ever tried to keep 2 goats and a chicken in your wallet? It's very messy.

[edit on 24-3-2009 by spacedoubt]

I think people obsess about being one step ahead of the Jones'. Bigger and better is cool and the more you spend on it the more you can make your friends and neighbors envy you. But what your neighbors don't know is that you pay for all these new expensive items on credit. So, the hole is dug deeper and deeper.

It is about greed. It's about wanting people to envy you. It could be about insecurities. It could be because of snobbishness. It could be because of stupidity.

Whatever it's caused by people are paying the price for it now. Those that didn't care to keep up with the Jones' and make due with what they have are not in as bad of shape.