Wow! This is a very helpful conversation. It seems to me that the people who are opposed to money see it as a means of establishing hierarchies in the world. They seem to imagine that if money did not exist, all people would be equal because there would be no way to distinguish between the status of various people.
It’s interesting because people feel similarly about things. They complain that we worship things to much, and miss out on the value of people. People are prone to saying things like this especially at this time of year.
What they are really complaining about is inequity, I think. They tend to see the symbols of inequity as causing the inequity and imagine that if the symbols went away, the inequities would go away.
When I was young and poor, I felt similarly. I felt like society owed me a job and a living. I was ready to fight the established power order for my fair share. I could not, then, have imagined that by working every year, my money and things would grow and grow until I became one of those people I was jealous of as a youngster.
Now I think the market place is the best way for quality to be determined. I don’t care if it’s the arts or buildings or clothing, the market helps us understand the relative value of things. Of course the market doesn’t work without money. If we got rid of all the money, we’d just reinvent it, because without it, everyone would be dirt poor.
It’s about inequity and our perceptions of how we fit in the inequitable system and whether we think it is a fair system. Interesting. Thanks for your comments.