1 — Money is fluid.
Turns out, unlike matter, money can be both created and destroyed.
Take the Euro for instance. It was the result of years of discussion, dreamed up in the 60’s, established in ‘92, named in ‘95, and replaced the currencies of 11 (now 19) different countries on Jan 1, 1999. On Dec, 31, 1998 it didn’t exist, and the next day it did. The first currency to cease to exist as a result was the German mark, although it remained in circulation. The Portuguese escudos, which were coins, lost monetary value completely on December 31. 2002. More would follow.
Greenspan told weekly Stern it was "absolutely conceivable that the euro will replace the dollar as reserve currency, or will be traded as an equally important reserve currency," the magazine said in a preview of this week's edition.
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Or think of Wampum, the Native American belts of shell beads used by colonists as money.
With stone tools, the process to make wampum was labor-intensive. Only the coastal nations had sufficient access to the basic shells to make wampum. These factors increased its scarcity and consequent value among the European traders. Dutch colonists began to manufacture wampum and eventually the primary source of wampum was that manufactured by colonists, a market the Dutch glutted.
Wampum briefly became legal tender in North Carolina in 1710, but their use as common currency died out in New York by the early 18th century.
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In some cultures even today your livestock is your money. Just living breathing money bags or golden meat sacks. If the calf dies you’re out that money. If it lives to a healthy adult you’re doing well. If you have a lot of fat, healthy golden calves well then you’re Mr. Big shot aren’t you?
Speaking of shiny things, they’ve always been worth money. People find them on the ground all the time all over the world introducing new wealth as if from nowhere.
When you’re a bank, you don’t need to stumble upon money or raise it or even sell stuff for it. You sell money for money. You’re charging money for access to money. Your selling services for money for money. It’s like a bad joke that no one gets so you keep repeating it when no one wants you to and you end up driving everyone insane. I don’t mean to come across as cynical as I am though. Banks do perform an essential function in society. Still, sometimes when I think of money I think of the Jerome Daly case or Burt Bucks. I guess what I’m saying is when you think about money, think fluidly.
2 — People give away a lot of money.
The more money you have the less it is worth to you. A lot of people will never really get to experience this sensation but that’s how money works. And still, people at all levels of wealth give. They give to other people, they give to charities, churches, political campaigns, governments; and of course when we die our estate is sorted, sold, counted, and given away.
Andrew Carnegie is one of the richest people that ever lived. He sold his company in 1901 for 480 million, worth over 13 billion today. By the end of his life, he had donated 350 million to libraries, pension funds, education, and his other philanthropy projects.
It’s easy to look at that and be cynical because it brings to mind a lot of questions. At what point does a person realize they don’t need all that money? Why work so hard to get it just to give it away? Are they just trying to put a shine on their legacy?
Some people ask different questions, like the reporter who asked Warren Buffett why he was giving away billions of dollars and why he wasn’t thinking about how his kids would feel (sorry, I can’t find the video now). While I see this amount of money in 1 person’s possession and think it’s obscene, this guy can’t believe someone would just give it away (Buffett is worth 48 billion these days). So it struck me not to be cynical and to encourage this level of generosity.
Warren Buffett and the richest man today, Bill Gates, encourage it too. They are leading the charge for the super rich to donate not just billions, but half their wealth or more.
Now you simply cannot talk about people giving away money without looking at what’s happening with Bernie Sanders right now. It actually nails the topic from both ends of the money spectrum. You are looking at people with very little to give collectively putting a lot of money behind a philosophy that says those with the most must give back into the society which attributed to their fortune. It’s millions of “the little guys (and gals)” coming together to compete with the big boys. A philosophy that says you are not an island. And the Bernie campaign, with the lowest average donation and most individual supporters (record breaking actually), is competing with and even outperforming the super pacs and a system designed to exclude those with the least.
I have big hopes for what the Bernie campaign has jump started but I recognize the alternate possibilities too. The bigger question is, is it really sustainable for the masses, living paycheck to paycheck, to compete in the current political process? Besides Bernie, this election we’ve seen a billionaire have the media giving him airtime (that’s free money by the way), a ridiculous amount of candidates waste 100’s of millions on failed campaigns (Jeb! alone tops $100 million) before the primaries even started, and a pair of billionaires pledge to give (ok, finance) nearly 1 billion, more than both major parties in the last Presidential cycle.
Can the current trajectory change? Do enough people care or know to care? Are we going to “stay the course”? If we do the inequality gap widens even more; more stress, more depression, more sickness, more death…More greed. Count on it.
3 — Follow the money… to the people who don’t have money.
White women make 78 cents to every dollar a white male makes. Black women make 64 cents. It’s less for Native American and Latina women. This is all in the United States.
The average illegal alien household, when accounted for size, can make as much as 50% less or more than native households. The average Chinese worker makes $1.36 an hour. Only about 15% of Mexican workers make the average minimum wage of $5.10 an hour. The rest get less. The average worker in Myanmmar recently got a raise and now makes about $0.35 an hour. Their employers did not do it willingly.
“In July, more than 200 representatives from 145 garment factories voted unanimously against the 3,600-kyat minimum, at a meeting of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. They shared the results with the National Minimum Wage Committee.”
“But trade groups representing global companies sourcing from Myanmar, or considering investments in it, threw their weight behind the new legislation, saying it would do more to attract foreign investment than deter it.”
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Not having enough money has consequences, and they’re usually not good. But just who are these poor, lower class people and why are they worth less? A lot of it has to do with money’s fluid nature. Like a fluid, it tends to follow the path of least resistance. And that means those who have been historically marginalized tend to stay that way.
Women make up a large percentage of the poor. Surprisingly (or maybe not), gender equality has the potential to add 2.1 trillion to the US economy and a ridiculous 28 trillion globally. Although in this case it wouldn’t really be adding wealth as if from nowhere but redistributing it, fairly. See what I did there?
When you look at who makes up the uneducated you can start to see some obvious connections, women, lack of money, historically marginalized. It’s like a vicious cycle that keeps repeating or an invisible force that is keeping someone down. Like a glass ceiling or something. Oh right, that’s what we’re talking about.
Immigrants tend to be poor as well. You may have heard a lot these days about the “problem” of illegal immigration.
Americans who are struggling to survive due to high unemployment and low wages may be asking why illegal aliens receive benefits from state and federal governments. Federal law does prevent illegal aliens from receiving benefits meant for American citizens. The only benefit that illegal aliens are allowed is emergency medical care.
Law Dictionary: Why is it that Illegal Aliens Get Free Food Stamps, Health Insurance and Pay No Taxes?
Although there is certainly some level of fraud and incompetence, it should also be noted that:
The Congressional Budget Office in 2007 answered this question in the following manner: “Over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal impact of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants—both legal and unauthorized—exceed the cost of the services they use.”
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Another group you can look at and make some connections, our service men and women. It shouldn’t be surprising that the poor make up a large percentage of the military. The National Priorities Project found in a study that only 70% of recruits had a high school diploma and far more come from middle and low income families. The projects’ director said it best.
“Once again, we’re staring at the painful story of young people with fewer options bearing the greatest burden,” Greg Speeter, the project’s executive director, told the newspaper.
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A Syrcuse University study concluded:
In conclusion, among race, socioeconomic status, and immigration status, socioeconomic status is the only significant predictor of having ever served in the military. Class differences in military enlistment likely reflect differences in the non-military occupational opportunity, structured along class lines. This research shows that the all-volunteer force continues to see overrepresentation of the working and middle classes, with fewer incentives for upper class participation.
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4 — This is where all the money is.
As of March, 2014 80 people owned the same amount of wealth as 3.6 billion people, half the world’s population. Last year it was 62. It was 388 in 2010. The trend is not sustainable. The “1%” own more wealth than the rest of us. Get ready to be number 3...
Oxfam said that the wealth of the poorest 50% dropped by 41% between 2010 and 2015, despite an increase in the global population of 400m. In the same period, the wealth of the richest 62 people increased by $500bn (£350bn) to $1.76tn.
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5 — Money’s not the root of all evil. You’re thinking of people.
Everyone knows corporations aren’t people but corporations have rights like people do. It’s kind of like giving people extra rights. It’s really giving rights to money which is controlled by people. What you are saying essentially, like in the case of bankruptcy, is I’m not failing; this entity which I have created/am a part of is failing. Kind of like saying money is the root of all evil. But that’s just a saying. A way to brush off some wild behavior and wrap it up in a faithful cliche. (And given that people do bad things for money. They do bad things with money. They do bad things when they lose money. They do bad things when they’re owed money. And money is a part of our daily lives, there’s a good chance that cliche will remain faithful.) It is the corporate world however, which has allowed people to depart themselves from responsibility on a scale that is still outdoing itself.
Remember the EPA mining waste accident last year? Turns out that was a pretty big government F up...way back in the entire US history before the 1970’s when there were no regulations. The mining boom may have helped settle the west but the neglected legacy of waste continues to plague communities. Its not unique to just the Animas and Colorado Rivers. Toxic mines are scattered all over.
When some mines dried up they were abandoned and then...they flooded. The flooded mines have high levels of toxic minerals and leak in nearby water supplies. Any cleanup effort is costly and dangerous. An extreme case continues to unfold in Brazil.
The lead mines in Oklahoma, part of the old “Lead Belt” are an example of companies benefiting from a war effort and leaving behind huge piles of toxic waste materials in the middle of a town. The lasting effects of the mines ultimately ended the town. It was part of the Superfund sites around the country. US. Money for cleaning up these Superfund sites is drying up when it needs to be increasing.
The EPA attempts to bill the company responsible for contamination. Sometimes, the company no longer exists or is bankrupt, so the EPA pays for cleanup out of the Superfund trust, previously funded by a tax on petroleum products. The tax was discontinued in 1995.
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These days you can get toxic water and crumbling foundations just about anywhere all thanks to the miracle of fracking. And the Flint lead crisis gives us a clear understanding of how much some in our Government really care about the consequences of these things despite the overwhelming evidence of known issues.
All these things and more are happening and still there isn’t enough of us to convince our societies to change. Oh, and I’m still talking about money.
Cost of cleaning up:
Animas River disaster — EPA estimates $3 million. Other mining disasters have been more. $100 million for the Eagle river, $155 million for the Summitville disaster.
Brazil mining disaster — “In February the responsible mining companies reached an agreement to pay US $5.1bn in damages to the Brazilian government.”
Superfund — “In the past decade (from 2011), EPA allocated $243 million per year for Superfund cleanup. It estimates $335 million to $681 million per year will be needed for future cleanup.”
Fracking health costs — Here’s the best I could find. Expect hundreds of thousands per family effected by wells. “The oil and gas industry is unlikely ever to be held accountable for many of the costs of fracking documented in this report—at least under current law.” This family was awarded $3 million.
Flint lead crisis — “The EPA's latest survey estimated the entire sector needs $385 billion in water infrastructure improvements through 2030, and this estimate includes the costs to only partially replace lead pipes, according to the rating agency.”
If you can bear with me for a second I want to look at the last “5 Things You Should Know About” . I posted a diary disguised as an April Fools joke, disguised as quasi Tea Party, extreme right wing propaganda littered with every “Obummer hates America” conspiracy available and it’s horrible. Turns out it’s easy to write though. It really doesn’t matter what you say when everything you’re saying is a complete joke. Not a funny one. That’s not what I mean. But this stuff is out there, everywhere.
It’s hateful lies and it got the reactions it deserved; shock, anger, confusion, skepticism, a good flagging, and prompts for deletion. But deleting it from the Kos archives accomplishes nothing. I’m not the source of this crap and neither are the ignorant, angry idiots who actually believe it. This is the southern strategy, the corporate takeover, hate and fear mongering, Kansas City shuffle, real divide and conquer shit, designed by people intentionally to distract the easily swayed into voting against their own interests. And it’s working. The last 50 years prove it’s working. The torch JFK intended to be passed to the new generation died with him, his brother, MLK, and the Communist/Red scare. The whole country began shifting to the right, including Democrats. Common sense ideas and morality itself are now openly laughable in certain circles because they are considered too Socialist or Progressive.
Where would we be…no…Where would the world be if the US push for renewable energy and nonviolent diplomacy under Carter had continued or even accelerated for the last 40 years? His goal then was 20% renewable by 2000! Cheese and F’ing Rice man that was 16 years ago! I was still in high school and barely knew any of this! How in the hell did we get here?!? Well, it’s a complicated web of shadowy groups and dark power spreading lies and distortions, right? But there’s a golden thread that cuts through the confusion and that’s the motive, money. Money controlled by people. Not complicated at all.
This isn’t to take away from other offenders. And I’m certainly not someone who can claim I am without faults. But I’m writing this for fun because I can and I want to live in a world where people can always afford to look on the bright side.
Previous 5 Things:
The Military
Carbon
Renewables