Why Money?

Dated: Nov 21st 2001

“If you take out money, half of the world’s problems are solved right there.” The Naked Face. Sidney Sheldon. 1970. (Modified for general audience!)

Consider a fictitious Mr.A waking up in the morning & brushing his teeth. The brush is for free & so is the toothpaste. He freshens up. He prepares a breakfast: the bread, the butter, the jam & the lot are all for free. He switches on the TV – which he got for free along with washing machine, refrigerator, wet grinder, system & other gizmos.

He then visits the market. He asks for all that he wants & he gets what he wants – all for free. Question now is if the job of the vendor is to sell – rather, give away – vegetables & he gets no money in return, how will he survive. The catch is even he has access to all the things free. Everybody can have everything they want for free. So much so that even the farmer, who provides the vendor with the necessary stuff, can arrive at the market in a posh car, for the car is free! Everybody can have his or her own favourite cars! Now, the farmers do not have to bargain with the vendors & the vendors do not have to bargain with the customers.

Suppose Mr. A decides to have a house built. He approaches a contractor & gives him the details. The contractor gets the bricks, mortar, cement & other necessary materials – all free of cost – with help of lorries running on free fuel. Since it is the contractor’s job to build the house, he sees to it that the house is built with the best materials. No stealing, or inappropriate mixture of cement & sand. For even he has access to everything just as the President of USA! So, there shall be no cheating.

Like this, the advantages of a life without money are enormously high. Nobody cheats for there is nothing to cheat for! There will never again exist a gap between the rich & the poor for everybody have equal access to everything. There shall never again be robbery, theft, burglary, murder for gain, property, jewelry, strikes against less pay, illiteracy, poverty, frauds, ill-constructed buildings, child labour, loan problems, Budget & most of important of all, no worry. No profit, no loss for no one.

Everybody shall have the right to enjoy. That’s what life is for. To enjoy. To be Happy. Not to kill others, nor to worry, nor to be sad, nor to die of poverty. Death of millions because of poverty is one of the saddest things in the world. We ourselves have created an evil called “Money” & those who do not have it are poor & those who have it are rich. The poor have to live in huts & the rich in mansions. If a poor man has cancer, he should die a miserable death but if the rich man has cancer, he can have the best medical attention. Why do we need money?

Can’t everybody live equally, without distinctions being made? Man invented things which has helped mankind in leaps & bounds & have caused less worry than those felt by medieval people. He invented light, electronic gadgets, solutions to medical challenges, computer & various other things to which all are eternally grateful. But Man also invented things that cause constant worry, an anxiety & unnecessary deaths of millions. He invented religion, caste, creed, colour, but the worst invention of all was the concept of money.

Happiness is a wondrous commodity. The more you give, the more you have. Life is about enjoying, about finding & discoveries the mystery & the beauty of the nature, about appreciating art & skill of millions of people, about tasting the best foods at various parts of the world, about having content at one’s house & in one’s job, about helping the medically unfit, about giving joy to others, about having a wonderful & happy community, about sharing everything with a partner, about sports, about music & deriving enjoyment & bliss from each of these. It is a great pity that each one of them comes with a price tag. A normal man can have none of the above. Why? Because he cannot afford what people of yesteryears invented the concept of “money”. Why oh why do we need money?

But then if it all becomes so easy in life, then what will be life all about? Lazy people will just have the best of the houses built in the best places of the world & watch the TV all day until he gets bored, & then, & then comes the time when he wants to do something. Every single individual in this world – however low he is on IQ - wants to be busy, to do something of worthy & capable to his calibre. It is upto the individual to decide what he wants to be & to do. He can have the occupation that gives him the most satisfaction rather than join a course – as is done nowadays – which assures him of most fortune. He can be a simple vendor, or a doctor, or a contractor, a carpenter, a software professional, a bus conductor or even might venture out for research. There is no distinguishing in labour, for there is no pay in any of them! Everybody is important, as everybody’s contribution to the world is important. No job is greater than anybody else’s. All jobs are equal & all are treated with equal respect.

Attention has to be given to make life as much easier as possible with least amount of suffering. Such as in the case of water scarcity, methods have to be devised to make seawater potable. Studies are needed in the field of ET, astronomical discoveries, alternate sources to prevent the depletion of natural resources, sophistication in biodegradable products & many such things on similar lines, & all for the betterment of mankind. So in this way, people can learn what they like to learn & do what they want to do. Students need not have the usual dilemma, about choosing an undesirable, but wholly profitable line of work for their own financial betterment. Everybody works for everybody. Communal harmony thrives. Earth becomes Heaven if there is no money.






There are some disadvantages too. For instance, consider a great event, such as a cricket match. True, there will be no distinction between the gallery & the pavilion stands, for nobody pays anything. But then, in the real world, some people might opt out because of the money factor, that is, there will be a limited number of people attending such events leading to better crowd management. But if there’s no money, virtually the whole city tries to enter the stadium, & crowd management becomes impossible. One way out of this problem is the policy of first come first serve basis as well as the priority policy. It might help marginally, but it still is a problem nevertheless. Like this example, there will be some unnoticed instances that will be a nuisance when no money exists

There comes the job of the Government. It must exist to see to it that all events around the city go on peacefully, without mindless killings. There shall always exist the other nightmarish inventions of man like caste-difference riots, which needs to be looked into, as well as curbing of hatred amongst neighbour countries, deportation, herald vital education for the budding youth & curbing of alcoholics & drug-addictions (for the alcohol & drug will be free of cost!), encouraging healthy competition amongst manufacturers of goods & products, promote efficiency in an organisation, tackle diseases like epidemics, curb extremists encouraging terrorism, control law-breakers, etc..

If such a world ever came to exist, there will be no slums, no beggars, no banks, no frauds from financial companies, no smuggling, no hunger, no wars, no tax, no strikes, & in short, no problems at all. Preconceived notions are the locks on the doors to wisdom, freedom & happiness. Its time something’s done about money.

But then, if everything that’s written is implemented, then we would be living a different life altogether!