Value is in the Eye of the Beholder
What creates success and prosperity? There are many factors in play as to what drives people to chase success, but what makes that goal attainable? In this essay I am going to dive into our provided readings to attempt to answer that question. My own thoughts and opinions aren’t nearly enough. I’d like to say that to truly prosper it takes time and sacrifice, but that is only a piece of the pie. To be successful is always a funny thing to think about because it’s biased. To put it into perspective, “one man’s trash is another mans treasure.” After really thinking about it, success means anything and everything to the eye of the beholder.
In The money confusion: How illiteracy about currencies and inflation sets the stage for the Crypto Revolution, we learn about World War II and indescribable ruins that Germany was left in. In the reading it says, “The simple truth is that people, yet again are the economy, and war exterminates them. Nothing could be more of a growth deterrent than war simply because war rubs out the very people who divide up work on the way to productivity.” (Tammy, 2022, p. 3) After reading an excerpt like this I thought of the opposite, I knew just how much wealth could be gained from war. Unfortunately, the spoils go to the successors. The ruins in Germany pulled the United States out of the Great Depression and set us on the track to be successful and prosper. Back in Germany, normal currency was thrown out the window and it was set to evolve from one thing to another.
From food stamps to cigarettes, money means nothing if it has no value behind it. That is what I have learned from reading, observing, and from just living. Crypto is the perfect example, to me, it was a once great, new, interesting thing that could make you rich. Many have learned just as the Germans did, with no value behind something it is worthless. Many have failed to find success in crypto with even fewer gaining it, I’ve always seen it as a fad, and once that time passes away it’s worthless. As I stated earlier, prosperity comes from a great many things, to the U.S. it came from the war, for some individuals it came from crypto, and for some Germans it came from cigarettes. We decide what has value and when, that’s what makes success so difficult to come by.
Determination of Prices
In Chapter 2: The Price Is Right, of Seen, the unseen, and the unrealized: How regulations affect our everyday lives, we discuss the determination of prices. This follows my previous argument/observation perfectly. As a society we are lucky to have developed a stable currency in which we use daily without any second thoughts. This currency drives us towards prosperity, we buy, sell, and trade using it. We profit from it. “With money as a universally accepted medium of exchange, more trades become possible and each exchange is less costly because there is no need to find someone who has what you want and wants what you have— what we call “double coincidence of wants.” (Bylund, 2018, p. 21) This quote shows the power of a stable currency, value is given to gain a different value.
In the past trading was used and value was given from the product itself, in today’s society the value is behind the product. “…the market has cleared: there are no more gains from trade. This is equally true in a market with many participants, which could see different prices between each pair of exchangers, that is, in each trade made. But if the prices offered for products differ a lot, other traders would realize they are missing out—that they could be even better off trading with someone else, who would be satisfied with lesser value in exchange.” (Bylund, 2018, p. 26) I am glad our society has created a means in which we can give & take value, but it also saddens me. I hate that we can put a price tag on practically everything. True value should be taken from those around us, through memories, laughs, moments… I reflect back to that poor old adage, money makes the world go round.
Root of all Good or Evil
“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips, and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other– and your time is running out.” (Rand, 2020) After reading this quote I find it hard to make sense of it, I want to be able to believe that money is the root of all good but based off most that I know I just can’t. We’ve all heard that money is the root of all evil and I can completely agree in some situations but it also brings prosperity. How can something be truly good or evil if it provides the opposite affect at some point? Money has too much value in our lives as much as I wish it didn’t. Francisco d’Anconia talks about how money is a tool but I don’t always see it as such. It’s a tool for some and a shackle for others. That being said, I truly don’t know what creates prosperity. I have been in search of the answer but it’s always just out of grasp. In the end, money is money, it won’t change for the time being and it’ll hold the ultimate power until the day we die. I wish we could move away from such a thing but it’s impossible. The only way to escape its hold is through death.
Citations
Rand, Ayn. “Francisco's Money Speech.” Capitalism Magazine, 13 Apr.2020.
BYLUND, PER L. Seen, the Unseen, and the Unrealized: How Regulations Affect Our Everyday Lives.LEXINGTON Books, 2018.
Tamny, John. The Money Confusion: How Illiteracy about Currencies and Inflation Sets the Stage for the Crypto Revolution. All Seasons Press, 2022.