The Natural Use Of Money.

Money---we need it to live in our modern culture.  But what happens when need is replaced with want, and how do we discern the difference?  Gluttony is usually associated with eating and drinking.  The word gluttony in and of itself effects people negatively. 

Access, however, seems to have become a sign of success.  The concept of gluttony can be transferred to almost anything, including material acquisition and competition. 

The natural use of money seems to be to provide the lifestyle that satisfies the needs of the family or individual.  While the family is contemplating the use of money, it would be wise to remember the government is manipulating money and positioning people for the good of what is currently described as “the economy”.

Many of us will remember a time when a healthy economy connoted a close-to-full employment rate, and people accumulating a nest egg for the future.  Some children went to college, some didn’t; the prerequisite fell on the personality of the child.

While we are told we live in a so-called free market economy, the truth is more complicated.  The government does now and has always manipulated the interest rate to encourage economic flow in one direction or another, as suits their inclination.  Our representatives may have been more in tune to considering the comfort and health of their constituents in the past.  Maybe the constituents were more engaged.  At the very least, a healthy U. S. economy seemed to be the goal.

Recent experience suggests this may not be the case any longer.  It is obvious that outsourcing, which can be mitigated through legislation, has been allowed under the guise of market freedom.  It is indeed free. However, when that same free market ran into financial difficulties, it was bailed out using taxpayer cash.

The free market became ever more self-interested, and the manifestation of this fact isn’t only outsourcing, but also the high unemployment rates and new legislation that brought rights of corporations to an equality with human rights and environmental rights. 

The mainstay of middle-class stability, homeownership, was impacted when the free market injected venture capital into the housing market.  Most of us know how this influx of institutional cash into the housing market harmed many homeowners.  But why was this the case?

One explanation may be that it wasn’t only the influx of venture capital that was a problem.  At the same time, the so-called free market actively encouraged middle-class homeowners to, as they said, take cash out of their homes to finance material acquisition.  We all know that when the bubble burst, homeowners were left with huge mortgage debt on houses that had lost their value.

Regardless of the monetary policy of the government, how could an individual or family avoid this cynical result?   Reality is a great place to start.  Many of us, and with the help of advertisement, forgot that money is a tool, not an end.  Just as the over-mortgaged house wasn’t really a source of cash, but rather a shelter, money isn’t really one’s life. 

Experience suggests each individual and family has its own interests and personalities.  Genius blossoms in each person, and the joy of life is to nourish that inspiration.  When we start accumulating money, which is a most healthy instinct, security may be the best reason.  Certainly material acquisition doesn’t enhance personal growth.  In fact, a case can be made that material acquisition deadens the appetite for growth of human potential in the same manner a diet of fast food can deaden the appetite for truly nutritious food.

Just as drug addiction and alcoholism tragically expands in a persons life until the inspirational inclinations are crowded out, does the preoccupation with material acquisition crowd out the inclination for the meaningful human activities.

More tragic than the loss of security when money becomes the object rather than the tool of one’s life, is the loss of life potential when it is replaced with alcohol misuse or preoccupation with status. 

Money is a simple and meaningful concept.  One’s life potential is far more important.