How money is destroying the world

Paco Dennis

Paco Dennis

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Location
Mid-Missouri
Excerpts from the article...

"Scientists are beginning to see the addictive link between dopamine and money.

It is a powerful addiction, unrivalled in its ability to trigger good feelings, and what’s most frightening about it is that you can’t ever physically overdose.

Cocaine, heroin and crack will kill you if you do too much, but not money. Money won’t harm you, physically anyway. The cash addict can madly mainline moolah from the trading floor, the Senate floor or, with smart phone in hand, the bathroom floor without ever risking a deadly OD. It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic, yet it is very tragic indeed, for the addict, their families and society at large.

Money addiction as tragic as any other

Make no mistake about this. Like all addiction stories, wealth addiction is tragic. Like all junkies, cash junkies will do anything to service their need. They will certainly neglect their own families while they work long hours to make more.

To the outside world, everything will seem fine. They will “keep it in the family” as they dissemble, distract and confuse. They will buy nannies and ponies and cars. They will snort cocaine and go shopping and jet off to exclusive resorts to hobnob with other wealthy people. They will present their wealth fashionably, but as Sam Polk one day realized, the pain and anguish are real.

And it’s not just the neglected family that suffers. There are no boundaries. Like a fentanyl addiction, it takes over and distorts everything. Cash addicts in the U.S. government (in any government, really), their campaigns funded by the wealthy, will steal from the poor, destroy the environment, rip off sick children, engage in colonial exploitation, start wars and even sacrifice kids in yet another school shooting, if it means they can make some more bucks.

And that’s not even the worst of it.

The addicts will hijack human spirituality, exploit hatred, brainwash the masses, derail democratic politics and tinker with fascism in their desire to have more.

So what to do?

Possible cures"

3 minute read

https://theconversation.com/how-money-is-destroying-the-world-96517
 

As an opinion I respect the authors point of view. My view is the lack of money leads to the inability to maintain a resonable quality of living. Poverty is not a happy place to be.
 

Acquisition of wealth, at the expense of others, is a human "trait" that has been around forever. Wealth Inequality, in most societies, is growing at an increasing pace. Even in "so called" Socialist nations, such as China and Russia, the numbers of wealthy are rising while the average people struggle to maintain a basic existence.

The "divisions" in our societies are growing steadily.....and the biggest division is becoming the Haves, vs. the Have Nots.
 
I'll have to admit that I've never really understood the appeal of having much more than you need. I walk around our lake and see the 30,000 square-foot mansions and say to myself, "Are they really happier than I am?" I don't think so. It is like a contest for money addicts to accumulate more than others. It's like the "space race" between Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson.

I've always strived to earn a good living so that we are comfortable. We are truly happy living a middle-class life. And as the old saying goes, "Money doesn't buy happiness." We have visited some very poor countries in our travels where the children seem to be much happier playing outside than the spoiled rich girls in the US who are depressed because someone on Instagram is prettier then they are. ;)
 
Just saw a video by Edward Snowden on cryptocurrency. The magical world of 1's and 0's being transmitted invisibly, globally is where our commerce is headed. "The Untold Truth About Bitcoin, You NEED To Know" | Edward Snowden (2021). The future of commerce is a new frontier..."the wild-wild-west". Us old people won't see it so much, but it seems like the future generations will increasingly be sucked into the cloud. The "Top Dogs" are making Millions of profit, while others are scammed regularly, NOW! Just think of when their power is so great a control over the distribution of wealth/resources that the globe experiences mass serfdom.
Most all of us ( at least having "enough" to be on this forum ) won't experience this strange new world, and we can quietly go into the night. BUT we still can choose our representatives and be active in our communities ( emails to editors-all the way to protesting ) to bring laws, and justice to those who neglect the needs of others.
 
Paco Dennis said:
Just saw a video by Edward Snowden on cryptocurrency. The magical world of 1's and 0's being transmitted invisibly, globally is where our commerce is headed. "The Untold Truth About Bitcoin, You NEED To Know" | Edward Snowden (2021). The future of commerce is a new frontier..."the wild-wild-west". Us old people won't see it so much, but it seems like the future generations will increasingly be sucked into the cloud. The "Top Dogs" are making Millions of profit, while others are scammed regularly, NOW! Just think of when their power is so great a control over the distribution of wealth/resources that the globe experiences mass serfdom.
Most all of us ( at least having "enough" to be on this forum ) won't experience this strange new world, and we can quietly go into the night. BUT we still can choose our representatives and be active in our communities ( emails to editors-all the way to protesting ) to bring laws, and justice to those who neglect the needs of others.
Click to expand...
Some people seem to approve of and even crave huge disparities between the rich and the poor. They passionately support political candidates whose policies make those disparities even greater. Just look at the tax cuts for the wealthy over the years and the people who support them. They generally fall into two categories: 1) The rich, and 2) Pawns of the rich. It's obvious why the rich support those policies, but the lower middle class who support those policies doesn't make any sense since they don't benefit and are often even hurt by them. I read a theory that the lower middle class don't mind being hurt a little if the poor are going to be hurt a lot, since often, welfare programs are cut as part of the programs.

We're seeing the beginning stages of economic collapse in America with the homeless problem, mass crash and grab looting, rioting... Like the saying goes: “When people have nothing left to lose, and they've lost everything, they lose it.” People are losing it in America, and as more people become homeless because of the lack of affordable housing, things are going to get worse. And rather than fix the problem, politicians will instead turn to military might to control the masses, which the group I talked about in the previous paragraph will enthusiastically support.
 
I have always remembered this passage from Somerset Maugham's book - Of Human Bondage

“I have nothing but contempt for the people who despise money.
They are hypocrites or fools. Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.
Without an adequate income half the possibilities of life are shut off.
The only thing to be careful about is that you do not pay more than a shilling for the shilling you earn.
You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist.
They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh.
They do not know how mean it makes you.
It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer.”
 
I believe that money is the catalyst for much of the evil in this world. It is hard to get around the fact that money is a must for survival these days. I found a way to bend the rules a bit and not be a slave to it. I am all for the barter system myself.
 

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