A dollar bill lies crumpled to your right, a bible rests righteously to your left. Erase belief from the scene and one becomes a slip of paper and the other a book, but which garners more faith? Lay one upon the altar of the Golden Arches and delivered unto you shall be a paltry burger. Whether or not the Virgin Mary shall be depicted by the sesame seeds of its bun, however, is anybody's guess.
Money equalizes. Money defines.
People control money. Money controls people.
Describe the differences between a one dollar bill and a one hundred dollar bill. Do not use the word worth. Do not use the word value. Do not use the word buy. You may use the word zero.
Money is fiction.
Money is indifferent, yet there is bitter money, kind money and honest money. Money reads the palm of he who holds it.
(shhh--here's a secret: Clench money too tightly and poison will flow between you and it.)
Luck and money are kissing cousins. Everyone wants as much of both as they can get even though either can turn bad on a dime.
One man stands before a vending machine with empty pockets and lips parched. Another just as thirsty stands waist deep in a roomful of quarters and no vending machine.
What is the value of a handful of coins?
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26 comments:
Money
Get away
You get a good job with good pay and you're okay
Money
It's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I'll buy me a football team
Money
Well, get back
I'm all right Jack
Keep your hands off of my stack
Money
It's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
I think I need a Lear jet
Money
It's a crime
Share it fairly
But don't take a slice of my pie
Money
So they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise
It's no surprise that they're giving none away
Tulip bulbs. I need more tulip bulbs.
"People control money."
That'd be the Fed.
"Money controls people."
That'd be the politicians.
I wish more people would see the distinction; as they argue about gay marriage and military action in [Arab nation of the week], people are being robbed blind every day by the monetary system. I blogged about money and the markets for years (in between blogging about my drinking habits and misc lame photography). Probably a bit early on the subject... not much inflation in 2005.
Just my... two cents.
I listened to that show and I have been slow-brewing a post about it... it has changed the way that I see the world (slightly)...
You are alright EOB. You and the GOAT make quite a pair...
Hi gang,
re: money and control, think of someone like Donald Trump or Bill Gates. Think of the guy on the corner with a tin cup.
Trump is defined by his money, so is Gates, but in a different way. Their fortunes feel completely different to me even though I'm a thousand miles from them.
The beggar is at once completely free of money and completely imprisoned by it.
Money is indifferent...
That's the heartbreaking part. I love money but it won't love me back.
"Money doesn't talk it swears." Bob Dylan
Anon, that quote was part of this post from the onset, but in the end, I cut it as it didn't seem to quite fit.
It is one of my all time favorite quotes.
If I found myself in the enviable situation of standing waist-deep in quarters, but with no vending machine...no problems, as I don't eat out of machines anyway. I would start pelting people in their heads w/the coins. Because I'm bored. And standing waist-deep in a pool of change.
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Swine - do not deface the money! Those quarters are little cow pies from the Gold Calf. Do not anger the Golden Calf.
Hapi, you said my name. Saying my name goes a long way.
Hapi stays!
Money is meaningless unless the government SAYS it means something. Even if you brought back the gold standard, you would still need a government to SAY the gold meant something. For that matter, the whole concept of private property, particularly land, is meaningless unless the government SAYS it means something. So it's kind of ironic that the same government that gives money so much meaning seems to have, in turn, become a servant to it.
Just saying.
Ah, Bill, you made me smile! Tulip bulbs indeed.
Ah, Bill, you made me smile! Tulip bulbs indeed.
Money makes prostitutes out of many.
Amanda: I'm glad you smiled. Twice! Not feeling very political today.
Leslie: Or, prostitutes make money from many.
The eagle flies on Friday. Doesn't everyone love payday?
So many great songs about money. The O'Jays: "For the Love of Money"
From Cabaret: "Money Makes the World Go Around"
"Money (That's what I want)" by nearly everyone...
Money is also a way to screw up your kids. Did anyone talk about that? The interpersonal family b.s. around money can cause a lifetime of hell and I think is an overlooked motivation that has far-reaching implications. How is this possible? I can understand getting screwed up by many things--food, love, sex, but money? It's not as neutral as it should be, is it?
There's a group in Kent, OH called the Kent Time Bank, making good with transactions that don't involve money. That's just the one I know about...
Funny that no one commented on the $1000 bill. What a great face! That's a bill worth framing.
The lady on the bill looks absolutely hilarious!
um ... thanks auctions, I think.
Erin-
...I'm glad you mentioned Trump and Gates. Gates actually BUILT something, although many would argue that he stood on the shoulders of giants to do it. And he has been working very hard to GIVE HIS MONEY AWAY.
...Trump, on the other hand, who was a lottery sperm recipient, has to keep scrambling to promote his reality show, because, despite his pretensions to grandeur, he needs the salary. He has profited by screwing creditors and renters.
Good thread, good topic Erin
Mike R
PS-anyone who thinks gold is a good investment should think about how much water it would have traded for during Katrina
The "This American Life" podcast I linked in the post is fascinating if you have the time to listen. Further to what Kirk said, the segment on Brazil gives real perspective to how nebulous the concept of currency is.
As for your songlist, twink, I spent nearly an hour trying to find an embeddable version of "Money" from Cabaret to no avail.
And no comment on the fact that it took TWENTY SOME COMMENTS before anyone made mention of the bill.
Ha!
Erin-I noticed the photo, but thought it was Susan B. Anthony. Traumatised by the memory of those puny quarter-like coins, I was too verklempt to comment
Mike R
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