What is the true value of money in a competitive society?

[drankin]

Not a technical question. Simply personal opinion.

Money to me is a way to convert ones work into a liquid/barter-able asset. You make financially what you are worth in a competitive society.

IMO. The less competitive the environment, the greater the financial disparity in a society.

Money is in a sense, work in a liquid form.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

What about the money you get as gifts or from lotteries?

 

[rootX]

For me, it's a way to afford clean good place and environment to live in.

Having more of it can be as unhealthy as having less of it.

 

[Jack21222]

Money is something that can be traded for things of use.

Is this a trick question?

 

[drankin]

Money is something that can be traded for things of use.

Is this a trick question?

Not a trick question. What it is and what it is can be different things for different people. See the post before yours as an example.

 

[KingNothing]

Money is power and status. It is the ability to show that I am better (or worse) than those around me.

 

[flyingpig]

Toilet paper and I don't mean that I use money to purchase toilet paper either...

Okay joking aside it's very important to me because I am broke and I don't get allowance and my job pays minimum wage

 

[jhae2.718]

It's what I need to finalize my plans for galactic domination.

 

[Triple_D]

I think Francisco d'Aconia said it best

 

[drankin]

I think Francisco d'Aconia said it best

Thank you! Definitely says it well!

 

[L2E]

I plotted the amount of money I had in my bank account on one graph and my general happiness on another and found that they were directly proportional to each other.

but seriously, money is what I steal from other people.



sorry couldn't resist. Money is something that allows me to trade with people that otherwise wouldn't want something that I could make or do for them.

 

[physiqueper4]

dear dranking: What about mony you make by buying and saling something in the same day?. When you say ; you convert your effort into money it is true but only in the area of HARD WORKERS it means the majority of us. But your definition is not true for othor sectors. You agree?.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

My report card.

 

[qspeechc]

"You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live." - George Bernard Shaw.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Money to me is an easier way of trading what I have for what I want without having to carry around a variety of resources that I then have to try and barter at every exchange.

 

[qspeechc]

You make financially what you are worth in a competitive society.

What about Western doctors working in Africa who get paid many zeros less than professional sportsmen?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

You make financially what you are worth in a competitive society

I agree with qspeechc, that might be the theory but it's not the practice. There are many examples of minimum wage workers who give far more to society than some in the higher salaries.

 

[turbo]

Money is independence.

I grew up in a poor family, and my parents were too proud to take out loans. My father worked all the overtime he could get at the veneer mill, and the first and only time he ever took out a loan was to buy an old run-down house when I was 10. He's still living there. The bank manager was pretty upset because they hadn't built in any penalties for early repayment, and my father managed to make an extra monthly payment every month or two, so the bank didn't make as much interest as they had expected.

I have tried to live the same way. Haven't had any debt for over 20 years when we paid off our mortgage on the last house that we lived in before buying this one.

Unfortunately for people who plan and save money, the Fed has been playing games, giving banks access to cheap short-term money for next to nothing, so that the banks don't have to pay depositors any interest (minimal at best, and not keeping up with inflation). In this sense, money is leverage that the politically well-connected can use to drain wealth from the people who actually produced the wealth in the first place.

 

[drankin]

dear dranking: What about mony you make by buying and saling something in the same day?. When you say ; you convert your effort into money it is true but only in the area of HARD WORKERS it means the majority of us. But your defintion is not true for othor sectors. You agree?.

I agree.

 

[rootX]

What about Western doctors working in Africa who get paid many zeros less than professional sportsmen?

Yep, and there are so many jobs that are more satisfying than high paying jobs.

Personally, I am seriously considering dumping a high paying full time potential job offer in favor of low paying one (where I get to see everything).

As I did different internships, my level of satisfaction kept on dropping as my salary increased.

 

[drankin]

What about Western doctors working in Africa who get paid many zeros less than professional sportsmen?

Depends on the environment. Doctors in Africa are wealthier than others in the same environment because they are worth more in that environment. I think my statement holds true.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Depends on the environment. Doctors in Africa are wealthier than others in the same environment because they are worth more in that environment. I think my statement holds true.

How about TV made "celebrities", people who earn millions just because once they took their breasts out on a reality TV show and now every magazine follows them around. They aren't contributing to society (except by sating some people's apatite for gossip) yet in some cases they have a career that earns more money than a school full of teachers.

 

[drankin]

How about TV made "celebrities", people who earn millions just because once they took their breasts out on a reality TV show and now every magazine follows them around. They aren't contributing to society (except by sating some people's apatite for gossip) yet in some cases they have a career that earns more money than a school full of teachers.

Apparently society in our environment thinks those celebrities are worth it. Sports, movies, etc. They didn't steal their money! They earned it!

Take one of those celebrities to another environment, say like the jungles of Africa, and they aren't worth anything to that society. They have no skills to convert to the local currency. You have to offer something that is of real value to them.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Apparently society in our environment thinks those celebrities are worth it. Sports, movies, etc. They didn't steal their money! They earned it!

Take one of those celebrities to another environment, say like the jungles of Africa, and they aren't worth anything to that society. They have no skills to convert to the local currency. You have to offer something that is of real value to them.

This boils down to how one measures contribution and worth. If "worth" is how much people are willing to give you then your original statement

You make financially what you are worth in a competitive society.

simply becomes "You make financially what people will give you". Which is fair enough but that can result in a decoupling between worth and contribution, which I would rather not have as a total situation (I also don't want the opposite)

I agree that no-one stole any money but there's a difference between earning something by doing work and earning something by being interesting to people willing to pay to see more of you.

EDIT: Not to speak ill of the deceased but I'm referring specifically to people like Jade Goody who made millions by going on reality TV and showing herself to be one of the most ignorant people around. A string of interviews with gossip mags, documentaries and appearance on other TV shows made her incredibly rich. She didn't exactly contribute to society or her fellow man, people just found her entertaining to watch and were willing to pay for it. I'm not saying anything about her as a person (apart from her well documented lack of knowledge) but she received far more for far less contribution compared to other people in society.