For a while on Monday evening and later, on Tuesday morning, I thought I had a serious health problem; that was scary. As I sat through the meetings of the Hollister City Council and San Benito County Board of Supervisors my hearing failed me - well, it wasn't exactly my hearing. I had lost my ability to interpret human speech; no matter what anyone was saying in the two meetings, the only word I could hear was "money." I even heard the word money when no one actually said it.
At the city council, the budget was being briefed using power point and the problems were defined as lack of money. They needed to hire a temporary contract employee for a lot of money. I was waiting for the money results from the motorcycle rally. Labor negotiations are going on over money and we hope the development at the airport will bring in some money and on and on.
It was much the same at the board of supervisors. They need new water meters at Stonegate and money was an issue. If they use too much water, we should fine them some money or increase the amount of money they pay for extra water. The board wanted to give more support to nonprofits that are doing important work, but there was only so much money to go around.
It took me a while to realize that my hearing was fine; my brain was merely taking a shortcut. Some special ability had allowed me to boil complex problems and ideas down to their essential elements as expressed by political entities and everything came out as money. If we only had money, all these problems would be solved, or so we believe.
Money is one of the most talked about and thought about aspects of our society and our lives. It's easy to find more than 500 quotes that include the word money and many of them are cynical. The late George Carlin said, "Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit." Another is from Mark Twain, "Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it."
We have songs about money. One was the first hit for Berry Gordy's "Motown label," there was the 1959 single by Barrett Strong, "Money (That's What I Want); The best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees I want money (That's what I want)…" and so on. No, it was not written by the Beatles, but their version made plenty of money - oops, there I go again.
Money plays a part in religion; one of the most frequently misquoted bible passages involves money. "Money is the root of all evil," is often attributed to Jesus Christ, but both the quote and attribution are wrong. The accurate quote is, "For the love of money is the root of all evil …" and the attribute is Paul, not Jesus. Although they are close in wording, there is a world of difference between the two meanings.
George Bernard Shaw turned even that on its head when he said, "The lack of money is the root of all evil."
When someone else is making lots of money, it often brings out the worst in us. Exxon Mobile, the worldwide energy giant, earned $11 billion net profit last quarter, but they paid $32 billion in taxes of all kinds, inside and outside the U.S. They paid three times their earnings in taxes, but we call what's left "windfall profits." That way we can take some more money from them with a clear conscience.
The government is sending mixed signals concerning money. The feds have supplied rebate checks to encourage spending; now the state is proposing to raise sales and other taxes, which will discourage spending. The truth is less complicated; the state and local governments want the money the federal government returned to the taxpayers and one way or another they are going to get it.
"Money makes the world go around." - Cabaret
Marty Richman Got a question or a comment? Send us an email.
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