Iconoclast: Fiscal Depravity

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” – Mark 8:36

There are over 8 billion people on earth and over 4200 religions. Each of these religions focus around some sort of hierarchy, deity, faith, or a god. Yet, not counted among these religions is the only one that stands above them all. A faith and belief that controls every human being on this planet to the point of playing a role in every aspect of our lives. A religion so widespread that not one corner of the seven continents hasn’t been touched by it. Every other religion answers to it either directly or indirectly. It occupies the minds of both adolescents and elderly alike. It causes some to lose sleep and others to slumber. It is the central focus of all wars. Some of its acolytes risk prison sentences to promote it, while others seek out ways to help others manage it. It is the very seed of corruption within the human soul, yet it carries with it a hunger in some to desire more. It gives power to the powerful and impoverishes the impoverished. What is this supreme religion? Or better yet, what is the supreme god that this religion follows? Money. The god of this world that is credited with giving birth to innovations both wonderful and evil. The religion called economics. However, as powerful and as oppressive as this god is. It’s as fake as the rewards it promises.

Money is a made-up concept based entirely on faith. It is not tangible nor is it eternal. Beyond the atmosphere of the earth, it does not exist. If you were to jump in a spaceship and travel to Pluto, your concept of money would be entirely useless there. It would hold no value whatsoever because there are no others there to carry on the faith with. You would instead be forced to rely on reality and the physical laws of the universe for survival. Yet, we as a race have allowed ourselves to be confined within the imaginary walls of fiscal imprisonment. We call it finance and swear our lives to it. We tell ourselves lies about how it brings incentive to the human condition. We allow it to strip us of our natural instincts and pretend that it makes us civilized. It brings compromise to our way of thinking.

Those of us in the west declare ourselves to be lovers of freedom and conquers of tyrannical oppression. But we invalidate this belief by willingly clocking into a dictatorship every morning and submitting ourselves in complete servitude to the master of the establishment. We believe it to be the opposite of slavery because we are given the artificial incentive through the salvation of this made up god at the end of the week or every two weeks. We claim it’s not slavery because it’s voluntary. How voluntary is something when our refusal to participate brings a halt to our livelihood? How voluntary is something when is has direct control over our shelter, our sustenance, our medical needs, and our mental stability? How voluntary is something when rejecting it can bring down your class value within the religion of economics? That is a level of control that the dictators of the 20th century could have only dreamed of. But somehow, we have placed a silver lining around the concept and called it the free market. We take the concept and use it as a scale to determine the worth of another individual.

For example, how many times have you heard someone called a bum for not holding down a job? How many times have you had the involuntary response in your brain to immediately judge an individual who chooses not to work? Now hold that thought in your head for a moment and ask yourself how many times you yourself have dreamed of a moment in the future where you don’t have to work anymore due to your acquiring substantial wealth. How different are you from them? The only difference is that they chose to do so before that moment arrived. Now, lets go one step further and ask ourselves if this system is really so great when we are constantly looking for ways of escaping it. Ever since the rise of social media, the number of people who have tried their hand in the entrepreneurial field has increased substantially. Everything from online pyramid schemes to amateur drop shipping only makes it more evident that so many are wanting to escape from these established dictatorships that control our lives.

If you still have doubt over private enterprise controlling your life, then ask yourself how smart it would be to flaunt your dirty laundry all over your social media account without a care, or even something more minor such as expressing a belief that is controversial and completely unpopular among the masses. Afterall, it’s your account is it not? We have a first amendment do we not? Or is the thought of your employer catching wind of it and seeing it stopping you? How are they able to reach out from beyond the time clock and control your actions from within your own walls enough to make you rethink posting pictures from your crazy birthday party last night? What about when you have to miss out on a family memory because the master of the establishment denied you the time to participate? You have to ask the master for permission and if you go against the master’s decision, you risk losing everything you’ve strived for up until that point. If the master fires you for not obeying his or her word, it can also affect your chances of finding a new master once they look over your past record with the previous master. Food for thought.

By now you’re probably thinking I’m attempting to peddle something along the lines of communism to you. You probably think I’m advocating for laziness in a world that depends on the working hand. In fact, you’ve probably already assumed I’m some Marxist or die hard socialist who is only focusing on the negatives of capitalism. That is not correct at all. Just stick with me for a moment and you’ll understand.

Let’s move away from the individual and look at things on the national scale and we’ll finish on the global.

This made up god called money and the enterprises that worship it, achieve most of the leveraging power in a capitalistic society. You’ll hear all the time in the west that this system is the best we have and it is because of this system that you have what you do. You’ll hear that no system is perfect but less people suffer under this current one. It’s fascinating to hear this when you look back over history and see the patterns of prior civilizations. Rome was a capitalist society yet fell because corruption began to seep through the cracks. We tend to think that capitalism is the best because the idea is that it provides equal opportunity for all. In theory this sounds like a noble concept, but what happens when it begins to create different classes of people? In order for the concept of capitalism to survive there has to be two separate groups of people. Winners and losers. The losers end up working for the winners while the winners set the rules. If everyone was a winner, then there would not be a system due to there not being employees (losers) to work for the winners. Therefore, there must be losers. For this reason, I’ve always been skeptical of the gurus out there who teach entrepreneurship courses.

Hypothetically if every person took the advice of these gurus and applied it how they were supposed to perfectly, there would still be a percentage of them that would fail due to the lack of employees to hire. Thus, some of them would have no choice but to be a loser to ensure the continuation of capitalism. Excessive preaching about how an individual’s state of being is dependent on their effort or lack thereof is a direct contradiction to how the system is structured.

How upset would everyone be if they walked into a McDonalds and there was nobody there to take their order or make their food because now everyone is an owner of a McDonalds. Imagine for a moment that everyone is a CEO of your favorite grocery store but the shelves are empty because there are no “losers” to stock the shelves. Everyone took advantage of the promised opportunities of capitalism and is now a boss. Suddenly, the deplorable building blocks the system survives on begin to show. But we currently do not pay attention to this because we inherently rely on the fact that there will always be “losers”.

Of course, capitalism cannot bear all of the blame. We can see similar problems with other economic systems. Socialism presents the problem of demand exceeding availability. Feudalism prevents opportunity for most. Communism grants too much power to a single entity. However, the underlying problem with all of these, is money. Communism strives for the idea of a moneyless society, but falls completely short because the global stage still relies on the concept.

So, when I say that money is the problem with today’s world, that does not automatically label me or anyone else a communist. As I said before, the problem with it is too much power to a government entity is granted under such a system. So, what is it I’m proposing? I will explain shortly, but first let’s take another look at the world that is governed by this false god.

In the previous entry I discussed the absurdity of war in our modern era. I mentioned how every war fought today is over resources just as it has always been. This is especially true in third world nations where poverty is a constant, and the warlords of regions seek to make themselves more “powerful” through the acquisition of more wealth. Our entire judicial and legislative system is centered around money. When a law is broken, a fine can be issued. As if the fine reverses the mistake. When somebody prevents any crime, it is usually money driven in some way, shape, or form. Now you’re probably ready to stop reading at this point because you’re seeing images of famous murderers in history, or those who have committed the most heinous of crimes and asking how these can be attributed to money. Let’s talk about it.

We have a habit of looking at the serial killers of the past or current inmates serving life sentences for atrocious crimes and saying they did these things because they are “evil”. Looking at things from a scientific standpoint, if we’re to say that a human is evil, we would have to also acknowledge that there are creatures within the animal kingdom that are evil. If the idea of an animal being evil sounds ridiculous to you, then you are halfway there in understanding the behavior of humans. I don’t want to get too deep into this discussion on this particular entry as I will cover this in a future post, but this is to express my point behind money being the cause.

If we toss out the idea of evil. We can think critically and start to look for more realistic reasons behind the crimes committed. Why does a thief steal? Why does a kidnapper demand a ransom? Why does the troubled employee bring a gun to work? Why are there muggers? Why are there drug dealers? Now you’re probably asking what about the rapists, pedophiles, and those who have committed the vilest of offenses? Yes, even these are money related and I’ll explain why. One hot topic in this country right now is mental health. Those who have committed sexual crimes can clearly be linked to unresolved mental health issues.

During adolescents, mental health signals can be given off through a child’s behavior but we tend to ignore these things for two reasons. One is because of the lack of education around mental health, and two because of the cost of treatment. The average cost of mental health treatment is over $10,000 annually. In a world where scarcity is still a thing, the average person is going to prioritize their spending on essential items such as food, shelter, physical and medical needs, and transportation. Due to the stigma surrounding it, one is not going to devote $10k on mental health treatment when they are more worried about making rent every month. Insurance companies also do not consider mental health to be important because it’s not considered “lifesaving” or preventive treatment. With these factors at play, it’s no wonder there is a mental health crisis and so many sexual crimes occurring. Had most of these individuals received the treatment they needed at an early time; they would not act on such impulses. This goes beyond just sexual offenses, this goes for those who murder, abuse animals, and those who commit suicide. Had money not been an issue, a lot of sad things would not be so.  Now one can say: “Well, look how rich celebrities are yet a lot of them are depressed and become drug dependent and suicidal.” "What about the rich people who commit crimes?" That is true, but that is also due to money, not the lack of it, but the illusion it creates.

Earlier I referred to the incentive of money as an illusion. That is because real incentive is not tangible. We only consider money an incentive because we need it so desperately to do anything. We equate money with power, when that kind of power is also an illusion and the source of greed. It’s insulting to be living in the 21st century and still consider someone who has an abundance of “things” to be powerful. Especially when those things were purchased with something entirely made up and faith based. Real incentive is the fulfillment of the soul. Money only makes you think you’re fulfilled because it temporarily satisfies the immediate need of fulfillment. Have you ever volunteered for something that was for a good cause because you wanted to? How did you feel after? Did you go home with a smile on your face despite not receiving any monetary merit because you had the good feeling of helping others? That fulfillment you felt after is incentive. It makes you want to do it again. It makes you want to look for other ways to feel it again.

What about the artist or the musician? How do you feel after you completed a song you’ve always wanted to learn? How do you feel when you finish a painting you’ve spent countless hours on? What about when others compliment it and praise the fine work you’ve done despite not receiving money from them? Some might care only about the money, but many absorb the praise like a sponge and strive to do better on the next piece because of the real incentive. Now imagine this on a global scale.

Imagine true incentive being the goal of businesses around the world. Not the profit of fake money. Money incentivizes a business to deliver goods with the idea of planned obsolescence so that those goods can continue to be purchased. Thus, we always need new cars because our current ones will need to be replaced. We will always need new cell phones, new shoes, new clothes, and new materials because it’s not cost effective for a business to sell something only once.

Recently, I was listening to a conversation between a group of people who were discussing the political climate. The discussion came up about the eventual elimination of tractor trailers. One individual was worried because he was a diesel mechanic. His exact words were “I depend on these trucks to break down so I can keep my job.” That is what money coupled with capitalism has done to us. It has kept the human race in its infancy by constantly relying on the continuity of problems just so we can have jobs that fix those problems. We have jobs that create problems and jobs that fix problems. We bomb so we can rebuild. We demolish so we can construct. If the criminal doesn’t commit crimes, then the police, lawyer, judge, and jailer cannot keep their jobs. If the cancer is cured then the pharmacies, cancer centers, and specialists shut down and lose their jobs. If the car never breaks down, than the mechanic, part dealers, and salesmen lose their jobs. If our highways never wear down and form potholes, then the construction workers, heavy equipment manufacturers, and OSHA workers all lose their jobs. If common ground is established and war is a thing of the past, then weapons manufacturing shuts down and contractors lose their jobs.

The god of money keeps us as cogs in the machine while our youth slips by our eyes. We remain as slaves to it constantly searching for a way out through gambling with our time and what little we do earn. We constantly plan for a retirement we may or may not see, and if we do see it, we can only enjoy it for a few years before our health toils. We ask our rich masters for the courtesy of granting us a week to experience what life was meant to feel like. We separate ourselves into classes because one may have more than another and the one with the most has all the importance over the rest. We ignore the homeless man on the street who is full of stories and unique things to share while listening to the those who are empty vessels on a stage because their change purse is busting at the seams. We pursue dreams with the mindset of what makes us rich and not with the mindset of what enriches us. We spend so much time seeking out the almighty dollar, that we find little time in learning more about ourselves. We ignore scientific and artistic endeavors because it’s not considered “cost effective”.

So, what is the solution? Socialism? Communism? Bartering? The answer is a post scarcity society achieved through resource-based economics. Educating people on true incentive and reprioritizing our focus on the betterment of humanity and not on profit. I will discuss this further on the conclusion of the Iconoclast series. For now, I will conclude by reiterating the insult that money brings to us as human beings.

Imagine for a moment that you were examining another planet and you discovered a race of primitive people not different from us. As you examined these people you watched as they spent every day of their lives scurrying about trying to gather as much sand from a beach as they could. They would take this sand and pile it up in their respective dwellings every day. You begin to notice that a few have bigger piles of sand than the others and because of this, they now get to make all the rules and are the most popular there. You watch as some sit and listen to these select few give them advice about other aspects of life and how to acquire more sand for themselves but do offer any of their own sand to pass out.

You remain for decades observing as you watch these people spend their entire life stressing and fighting over sand until eventually, they die from old age, still clutching onto whatever sand they do have. You then look around and see the vast and beautiful world these people lived on but never ventured to see or learn more about. The only ones who were able to were the ones with the biggest piles of sand. You’re confused because you look at the sand and cannot understand what was so valuable about it since it provided no practical purpose other than status and class to these people who declared it to be valuable. However, the value they placed on the sand was nothing more than a social construct they made up.

Just like the people of this planet, we too have handicapped ourselves into living within the boundaries of a made-up social construct that we’ve been brainwashed into believing has value. In fact, we think it has so much value that we are willing to trade the precious time of our one life for it. We have fallen into fiscal depravity and the sooner we break free of these social constructs, the sooner we can mature out of our infancy.

“A guy says to me: ‘I want a job; I want money and I want a car.’ That’s not true! You want to do interesting things that you find fulfilling, you want access to resources and you want to go places and be able to get there fast. If you think you want ‘a job’. Boy, they did a real good number on you.” -Jacque Fresco