Someone explain to me why money is so powerful

[scshift]

Originally Posted by Lightweight Champion

A lot of you guys are giving answers that OP probably already knows. I think his real question(s) is/are: why not something else? Currency is only pieces of paper and little metal coins. Why place so much value in it? Why not something else, something essential to life, like services?



Examples:

- Food is essential for life, so a doctor should treat a patient for food.

- Clothing is also essential. So services should be paid in clothing.

- Housing is a necessity.



You guys get where I'm going with this.

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

 

[scshift]

Originally Posted by Lightweight Champion

A lot of you guys are giving answers that OP probably already knows. I think his real question(s) is/are: why not something else? Currency is only pieces of paper and little metal coins. Why place so much value in it? Why not something else, something essential to life, like services?



Examples:

- Food is essential for life, so a doctor should treat a patient for food.

- Clothing is also essential. So services should be paid in clothing.

- Housing is a necessity.



You guys get where I'm going with this.

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

 

[airbornho]

Talib:They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tellYouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar billsOr is it the mindstate that's ill?It's not the money, but the concept of placing value in something in order to exchange it for something else with another person. Money solves that problem because you can exchange it for other goods instead of trying to figure out just exactly how many chickens a person will take for a car, or how many gallons ofgoat's milk you need for rent. Plus, it doesn't spoil and can be held onto longer than the aforementioned alternatives. Can you imagine someone's safe deposit box being filled with eggs, sheepskins, jars of honey, etc.It's a system that's observed and practiced by everyone, which makes it possible for higher level business to be done. Nobody's gonna worry about computers and internet when you gotta milk the goats just to get dinner from up the block. If you're off in the woods at a self-sufficient farm that you can maintain solo without any help from the outside world, then ok you don't need money. But you also won't have any community, no proximity with other people, always caught up in the management of the farm just so you can live. But with money, you can exchange it with others dedicated to supplying food for it,and then you can go off and do whatever other trade you want, like teach. Cities and population density wouldn't be able to function without a concept of money involved, because they're not self-sufficient enough to supply their own food and other goods, they have to import it from somewhere else.The reason why money has so much power is primarily because it's needed to get a lot of fundamentals and for everyday life to function. Naturally as your basic needs are covered, youwant to elevate your desires to the finer things, which is where greed and the power it has over people comes in. The reason why mo money= mo problems is because even if you're richand want to kick a little bread over to someone to help out, they're gonna keep elevating what they want out of you since they start looking at you as a free checking account and stopfocusing on doing them. And the more loot you have, the bigger the population you have an influence over is. So you're a millionaire and everyone on the block knows it, the hands withpalms facing up come out in spades multiplied by a larger factor than if you just had 100k. People are just looking to get theirs so they don't care about the whole big picture and thateveryone else is trying to get theirs too.I see it all the time with my family and people back in Vietnam. They just look at Americans like we piss out gold because we use dollars. So they're always trying to get their cut ofthe action. Calling us up for a hundred or so 'just because it's only a couple hundred', it adds up. They don't consider that we also have to spend dollars too, it's not like we pay for stuffin their worthless currency. It makes for a lot of bad vibes whenever I go back, so I really don't like to. I love the place, but the target on my wallet gives me a real headache.Experiences like that make me value true friends that don't give a (#*&@$ about how much bread everyone else got that much more, because it becomes a real drag if you don't realizethat you're just trying to live too.Cliff notes for those who don't like reading:-)#@*$# is gonna cost something no matter what you pay-money is most convenient thing of value-first you get the money, then you get the food, then you want the power-mo money=mo influence=mo problems because everyone wants theirs-true friends are few and far betweenEDIT: Yes, you can exchange services, but what's a mechanic gonna do for a guy who doesn't need work on their car? What's a doctor gonna do with a healthy person? Just how manycheck-ups in a day does your waiter need?

 

[airbornho]

Talib:They say money's the root of all evil but I can't tellYouknowhatImean, pesos, francs, yens, cowrie shells, dollar billsOr is it the mindstate that's ill?It's not the money, but the concept of placing value in something in order to exchange it for something else with another person. Money solves that problem because you can exchange it for other goods instead of trying to figure out just exactly how many chickens a person will take for a car, or how many gallons ofgoat's milk you need for rent. Plus, it doesn't spoil and can be held onto longer than the aforementioned alternatives. Can you imagine someone's safe deposit box being filled with eggs, sheepskins, jars of honey, etc.It's a system that's observed and practiced by everyone, which makes it possible for higher level business to be done. Nobody's gonna worry about computers and internet when you gotta milk the goats just to get dinner from up the block. If you're off in the woods at a self-sufficient farm that you can maintain solo without any help from the outside world, then ok you don't need money. But you also won't have any community, no proximity with other people, always caught up in the management of the farm just so you can live. But with money, you can exchange it with others dedicated to supplying food for it,and then you can go off and do whatever other trade you want, like teach. Cities and population density wouldn't be able to function without a concept of money involved, because they're not self-sufficient enough to supply their own food and other goods, they have to import it from somewhere else.The reason why money has so much power is primarily because it's needed to get a lot of fundamentals and for everyday life to function. Naturally as your basic needs are covered, youwant to elevate your desires to the finer things, which is where greed and the power it has over people comes in. The reason why mo money= mo problems is because even if you're richand want to kick a little bread over to someone to help out, they're gonna keep elevating what they want out of you since they start looking at you as a free checking account and stopfocusing on doing them. And the more loot you have, the bigger the population you have an influence over is. So you're a millionaire and everyone on the block knows it, the hands withpalms facing up come out in spades multiplied by a larger factor than if you just had 100k. People are just looking to get theirs so they don't care about the whole big picture and thateveryone else is trying to get theirs too.I see it all the time with my family and people back in Vietnam. They just look at Americans like we piss out gold because we use dollars. So they're always trying to get their cut ofthe action. Calling us up for a hundred or so 'just because it's only a couple hundred', it adds up. They don't consider that we also have to spend dollars too, it's not like we pay for stuffin their worthless currency. It makes for a lot of bad vibes whenever I go back, so I really don't like to. I love the place, but the target on my wallet gives me a real headache.Experiences like that make me value true friends that don't give a (#*&@$ about how much bread everyone else got that much more, because it becomes a real drag if you don't realizethat you're just trying to live too.Cliff notes for those who don't like reading:-)#@*$# is gonna cost something no matter what you pay-money is most convenient thing of value-first you get the money, then you get the food, then you want the power-mo money=mo influence=mo problems because everyone wants theirs-true friends are few and far betweenEDIT: Yes, you can exchange services, but what's a mechanic gonna do for a guy who doesn't need work on their car? What's a doctor gonna do with a healthy person? Just how manycheck-ups in a day does your waiter need?

 

[chiefwiggum]

Shut up.

 

[chiefwiggum]

Shut up.

 

[th0ugh]

Originally Posted by ChiefWiggum

Shut up.

 

[th0ugh]

Originally Posted by ChiefWiggum

Shut up.

 

[airbornho]

You mad?

 

[airbornho]

You mad?

 

[al audi]

money = food

 

[al audi]

money = food

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

health, a clear conscious, and money.

money is powerful because we made it the greatest fake commodity of the world.

money itself is worth nothing.

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

health, a clear conscious, and money.

money is powerful because we made it the greatest fake commodity of the world.

money itself is worth nothing.

 

[whyhellothere]

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

 

[whyhellothere]

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

 

[th0ugh]

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

So even if he's a nice guy...if he takes the bus home to his mother's house to eat, he's not worth anything?..you're a clown

 

[th0ugh]

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

So even if he's a nice guy...if he takes the bus home to his mother's house to eat, he's not worth anything?..you're a clown

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

At the end of the day people desire material and economic security. The easier the lifestyle, the less worry.

 

[SUSHI AND GRITS]

At the end of the day people desire material and economic security. The easier the lifestyle, the less worry.

 

[al audi]

Originally Posted by th0ugh

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

So even if he's a nice guy...if he takes the bus home to his mother's house to eat, he's not worth anything?..you're a clown

life is all about balance 

 

[al audi]

Originally Posted by th0ugh

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

So even if he's a nice guy...if he takes the bus home to his mother's house to eat, he's not worth anything?..you're a clown

life is all about balance 

 

[whyhellothere]

Originally Posted by th0ugh

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

So even if he's a nice guy...if he takes the bus home to his mother's house to eat, he's not worth anything?..you're a clown

which one is a girl going to rather be with? the broke nice guy living with his mom at say 26 or they 26 year old with a steady income & a nice car/house.

 

[whyhellothere]

Originally Posted by th0ugh

Originally Posted by whyhellothere

Originally Posted by scshift

Yeah, kind of. I understand that with money comes freedom and luxury, but why does it drive people like that?

Why is money the ultimate show of power/status, instead of something like raw strength? Like why is it that the guy with unlimited bank gets more props than the guy bench pressing 600 lbs? Or instead of something like eloquence? Why does the guy with all the cash get all the girls while the super-smooth talking player doesn't get them when rich guy is around?

no one cares how much you can bench press if your homeless and starving
dude might spit a nice game but at the end of the day he's still riding public transportation back to his mother's house to eat noodles
everyone wants to live good & you need $ for that

So even if he's a nice guy...if he takes the bus home to his mother's house to eat, he's not worth anything?..you're a clown

which one is a girl going to rather be with? the broke nice guy living with his mom at say 26 or they 26 year old with a steady income & a nice car/house.

 

[youngcurse]

this thread is a complete failure exiting now lol