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Can totally relate to this article. I don’t like or love money. Or capital. Or wealth. I enjoy the things money can acquire, sure. I enjoy my photography hobby
by stego-tech 2y ago
Can totally relate to this article.
I don’t like or love money. Or capital. Or wealth. I enjoy the things money can acquire, sure. I enjoy my photography hobby, which isn’t cheap by any stretch. I enjoy my home theater, with games on a big OLED screen and my surround sound speakers filling my ears with crisp, clear audio. I enjoy building a gaming PC ($$$), I enjoy taking trips ($$$$), I enjoy eating out with friends ($$).
But money? No, I do not like it. In fact, I dislike it because it, as a concept, is so easily exploited. I understand that it’s the best system we have to store the value of labor within, but I’m also smart enough to realize that isn’t how it’s presently used. Those with the most money have not saved the most time, or created the most output, or labored harder and longer than those with less, and that irritates me. I am forced to engage in a society where money’s definition as a value of labor is highly duplicitous at best, and it’s nauseating.
And thus I circle back to the root question again: Do I like money?
No. I do not.
I tolerate money. I have a finite tolerance for money, where should I have any surplus amount above that threshold I would donate it to others, for my life - and the lives of my dozen or so family and friends - would be stable, in equilibrium with society and the environment until our inevitable deaths.
But no, I do not like money. I do not like having to spend time managing gambling - sorry, investment accounts - to ensure I can maybe retire or buy a home. I do not like having to learn rulesets to different games - sorry, payment cards - to ensure I’m not squandering my finite resources on fees or penalties. I do not like having to juggle multiple accounts across multiple institutions with different governance structures, rules, taxes, fees, and schedules. I do not like any of this because I know their core function is to more easily funnel my finite money to those with infinite sums.
But I tolerate money, because there is no alternative.
- card_zero 2y agoI'm fond of wealth, but that's different.
- stego-tech 2y agoDo you like wealth, or the security and stability that wealth brings? Because I love the latter, but dislike the former. I hate seeing large numbers sitting in an account doing nothing but growing larger, and telling myself this is the “smart” thing to do to create security for myself and my loved ones. I should be able to acquire and maintain the latter without sitting on a growing pile of tickets masquerading as “wealth”.
- card_zero 2y agoBy wealth I mean nice things, which may be more or less material according to taste. Numbers sitting in an account is not wealth, because wealth is stuff you palpably enjoy, or that otherwise does you some good. If you transform the numbers into something that you imagined, and make it real, now you've got wealth (and, even if indirectly, the wealth has a good chance of making you money through some kind of thriving).