MONEY WARPS THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND BENEFITS

Money was developed as a bartering token. Before money was invented bartering for what you wanted could be problematic. You might have products of equal value to the thing you would like to aquire, but there is no guarentee that the owner wants your products.

Let me give you an example. You have a sack of potatoes which both you and your neighbour reckon is fair exchange for his cucumbers. He however does not want your potatoes, you trade your potatoes to the only neighbour who does want them but he does not grow cucumbers, he gives you carrots instead, these you manage to trade for the turnips that your neighbour wanted for his cucumbers.

Now let us look at it with money. You pay for your neighbours cucumbers and he takes that money and pays for his turnips, the man who sells the turnips takes that money....All the transactions are completed but not necessarily by you. This is obviously to your advantage and saves you quite a bit of time.

So, what so terrible about money?

Nothing. As a simple barter token it was excellent. The problem with money is that it can buy ANYTHING and that it can be stored indefinitely. Why is that a problem? Let me explain:

1. Buying Labour Itself
   If you can persuade a person to let you buy his/her labour, instead of the products they produce, then you can pay a flat-rate per day and keep everything that person earns above this flat rate. In a more natural system where the work was done to sustain the family, the work put in would be in direct proportion to the goods produced.

2. Storing Surplus
   You can also put in a lot more work than is needed. Many family members of workaholics compain of this. The family does not need more money but the obsessive person still works far too hard. This works because money can be stored and stored money is a sign of richness, something which is considered an asset. This stored money which does nothing, is being balanced by a lack of money somewhere else, for in the end a world economy balances itself out. In a more natural system it would be stupid to grow twice the crops you needed. The chances are you could not sell them and they would be bound to rot if left too long in storage. Therefore the incentive to work too hard and store up the products of your labour is lessened.
   The copyright of the article MONEY WARPS THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND BENEFITS in Green Home is owned by Linda Little. Permission to republish MONEY WARPS THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND BENEFITS in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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