The control we have on money is completely one-way. If you wanted to live a money-less life it is as simple as detaching yourself from this specific other. There is no phenomenological value in money other than what we put on it. This is apparent as the amount transcribed to a particular set of money is in a constant flux based on the need of the human. Whatever you buy or sell impacts “economy”. “Economy” is the system that determines the value of an object at any given time. It’s as easy as prescribing how much worth a thing is to the human race. Pick up a chair and understand that comfort is in great demand in our society. Compare it to a rock which has no use to us, hence it has no value. This is what “Economy” is based on, what is useful and what isn’t. What should we spend money (property control) on and what is fruitless to invest in.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate money, I think it is a near-perfect system that compensates for the fluxes of interest in society. I mean, should we really ditch something that has been born out of our cognitive structure? This would be potentially damaging specifically as there is no other clear option. Other than forcing people to adhere to an equally profiting governance. Is it fair to say that this would have come about in a liberal monetary system if we all thought the same way? Money allows for ideology, the system of currency allows for human learning. If there are people starving in Africa or under-paid over-worked workers in sweat-shops then money is not to blame. Of course, this is the usual response to guilt, try and blame it on something that can’t talk back.

Currency is a social institution, hence it can be changed, improved upon or possibly removed at some point.

Isn’t that a wonderful quote?

I mean it just completely sums up the state of the world today. That we (humans yes I am bringing humanity to acocunt) have created this …. thing! called economy. Then lo and behold, it’s out of our control! Now how could this have happened? But, wait a second, we should look closer and find that it isn’t completely out of our control. No, nothing that governs our lives and influences our decisions can ever be out of our control. This is a dangerous road to go down, but alas it is already one that many capitalist societies have proceeded to take (completely unawares of course).

I had an argument a few years ago with my sister over the importance of money. I think this was the early stages of my understanding that all was not quite right in the world. I had quite simply said “I do not need money to survive.” Naturally, she found that statement to be utterly ridiculous and proceeded to argue case-in-point that money is necessary for food, water and ergo our basic functions as a living human being. This shocked me, to say the least and I should have developed on my point back then and not leave it as just a generalization. She probably thought I was declaring I am going to live as a homeless person eating scraps out of dustbins. But, what I really meant was that I had understood and corrected my attitude to this thing called “money”. I do not need money to survive. Of course I understand that in the nature of this capitalist society we live in the system of currency is a required path to adhere to in order to have a basic level of living. But, I do not need money, I do not covet money, I do not cling to money and I certainly take care to not attach myself to money. It is simply just a shift in attitude towards recognising that currency is just a system of social governance created by a few men in order to control and surpress the ambitions of the wider community. It is in no way some a priori “norm” that we must blindly accept.

I am to this day completely amazed at the lack of understanding of the so-called “sharemarket”. There seems to be this image of it circulating the media to which the impression derived is always one of confusion and ambiguity. This naturally leads to a complete absence of enthusiasm to try and understand it in basic reasonable terms. Money is and always has been power. It is a non-physical manifestation of power (in regards to physical violence userping control, money does this non-violently). It is therefore important to note that the system of currency is just another form of governance which usually operates in conjunction with the “government” of the country it is operating in. For example, in the United States of America, their Federal Reserve Bank (which is a private operation, none of the board members are voted in, nominated etc) creates money and then loans it to the US government with interest. The government is essentially indebted to the Federal Reserve Bank.

“In summary, all money is debt. And all debt, that’s expressed in dollars, is money. To understand that, is to understand much of what is wrong in our economy. All debt, that’s expressed in dollars, is money.” (Rodger Malcolm Mitchell 2003)

Thus is the control of a debt-based economy, but it can change!

I would like to note that there has never been a Democracy in the fullest sense of the word. Don’t try and cite the Ancient Athenian Demokratia, simply because its directivness was not fully developed. Slaves, non-Athenian citizens (people moved to Athens, living there but not considered “citizen”) and women were unable to vote. This left all male citizens over the age of 18 to participate, around about just one quarter of the population. Also modern representative democracy? Firstly it doesn’t oblige everyone to vote, it’s not about forcing people to vote or not merely making people accept their responsibility. Indifference of good action is a huge negative force. Also, two teirs of the government are quite lacking in “representativeness”. The presidency is one person weilding immense powers of veto, and their party’s legislative powers. They can also nominte supreme-court judges which is another teir of accountability. So the only real spread of representativness in the US democracy is the senate. But of course, with only 100 members versus the millions of US citizens, I fail to see basic representation occuring.

Enough for today, my brain is tired =)

I only got 36% Chris

I find it amusing the amount of problems there are with the education system. One of the main ones is that they are trying to cram so much information into a small mind at a young age. More and more raw knowledge being taught to children; one problem: They don't know what to do with it! There isn't a sufficient amount of humanities in the schools of today, the principles and beliefs of an average child doesn't match up to the amount of Knowledge they posses. This promotes a mindset of individualism that frankly we don't need in today's society; I think that this is also the government's fault. If they believed that this was an important issue then it would have shown through. Instead they created the Els or "Essential Learnings"; they had the aim of making the education system more easier to understand for the parents.Well guess what? Well done! Congratulations! You have just succeeded in making the education system even more complicated! A recent survey was put out to an accurate sample of parents in order to establish if the Els were working. The results came back bearing news that an outstanding amount of parents did not understand the Els and that it made it more complicated. Now more jobs need to be created in order to "find the problem". On top of the amount of jobs that were created to formulate the Els in the first place. More complications for a simple education make for bad results.

Pathetic Really. Might continue if I feel pissed off again.

Cheers, Simon

Edited in:

I too detest political correctness…

An example of the El's was that while staying at the Booth residence I had the opportunity to read one of Harry's worksheets (5-6 year old?)
At the bottom of the sheet was a half page explaining the relevence of the question, It didn't actually specify who it was intended for but I guessed by the terminology that it was for the Parents. But it was just some meaningless dribble about how the simple question applies to some sort of offbranch of algebra and how it applies to life etc… Basically crap, wasting paper and time.