It’s really strange when you take a step back and think about money, it seems so important to many people, but in fact it is of no intrinsic value, the paper and coins we view as money, are most of the time worth less than the face value of the money it represents.
Money is a system based on trust, we rely on the fact that we can redeem our money for goods and services worth its face value. But some of the problems we face in this respect are, poor goods and services, and in some circumstances a poor legal framework to remedy such situations. Some examples are:
- Buying a house and find out out some of the building work is sub standard after a defect period has ended.
- Buying a car and finding out not all the features are as you had been led to believe.
- Investing in a pension that falls flat and doesn’t pay out
Before money existed, and even while it existed people traded on the basis of establishing their own views of the worth of their goods and services they wanted to trade by swapping or barter. It’s not a system without risk, but the trust relationship is between you and generally one individual, without “markets”, cartels, minimum prices, recommended prices etc. It seems there are many more variables present in today’s style of trading, which introduce risk and lessen trust.
The strange thing is that the people who run the system and the big players in it are anything but trustworthy, and that is at the root of the problems for a system that needs you to trust in it. The real wealth in society lies with the people at the bottom of it, not those at the top. It is the workers who put in the hours and labour at the thick end of the goods and services provided into society. Yet the system feeds of their wealth and pushes it further up the chain, investing in pension schemes that crash, a huge tax burden, wars and weapons we may have no interest in supporting, charging us more interest than the people at the top of society, and thus perpetuating inequality in wealth. For a system that relies on trust, there is a lot to be distrustful about.
Modern Money Mechanics details this with some rigour and is well worth a read to discover some fascinating truths about the money system that affects us all.
UPDATE: A few hours after I published this post, I came across an article which shows even The Queen’s money is held off-shore to avoid paying tax! So the HMRC who will prosecute in certain circumstances for non payment of tax and tax evasion, and the general public which is concerned about multinational companies schemes relating to taxtax avoidance, may find that The Monarch herself is involved, to some degree, in activity which dodges the declaration of funds due to the public purse.
So it seems the rich who have plenty of money, avoid paying tax and have lawyers who can dispute their liability, but the regular worker, who has to carefully manage their money will never get away with avoiding paying a single penny of tax! Again, this shows how the money system breeds inequality, and is a system based on exploitation and a value system that is detached from reality, and further distorted by an inherent lack of trustworthiness often displayed by those who benefit most from it.