Money, is it the root of all evil?

[Edward Teach]

Is credit cards the root of all good?

American Excess I don't leave home without it.


Stup Dity

 

[Bridget69]

It's only evil if it's taken for granted and people become greedy about it. Other than that, it's what we need to survive.

 

[cantdog]

Sure, but didn't 'Dita do it with grace?

So did Wagner. They may be tied, 15 all.

 

[fifty5]

I love money. I don't see anything wrong with money or wealth or power.

There is hardly anything you can do without money, including good.


Ed

So far, so good, Ed. The trouble is that what you say is also true - in spades - of doing bad.

More, while good folk like it, bad folk worship it (money, power).

And to remind you of what Lou said, it isn't either money or power itself, but 'the love of it' that's the problem. Compare and contrast David Blunket and Saddam Hussein...

Eff

 

[cantdog]

Money good. And it's an easy game to play once you have an initial grubstake to start with. But power isn't my thing.

 

[Edward Teach]

Making money is difficult. Oh, I'm not talking about getting an 8% return on bonds or something, I mean leveraging assets and substantially increasing wealth. Increasing it ten or a hundred fold. That is difficult because of competition. Very smart, very wealthy people go broke because of the difficulty.

It is much better to have money than not have any and it is much better to have power that not have any.

Love of money is not inherently evil any more than the love of flowers or anything else is. Becoming too obsessed with growing flowers can be unhealthy just as becoming too obsessed with money can be.

I'll take all the power and all the money you want to give me. What I do with it determines whether I am good or evil not the money or power itself.


Ed

 

[fifty5]

Making money is difficult. Oh, I'm not talking about getting an 8% return on bonds or something, I mean leveraging assets and substantially increasing wealth. Increasing it ten or a hundred fold. That is difficult because of competition. Very smart, very wealthy people go broke because of the difficulty.

It is much better to have money than not have any and it is much better to have power that not have any.

Love of money is not inherently evil any more than the love of flowers or anything else is. Becoming too obsessed with growing flowers can be unhealthy just as becoming too obsessed with money can be.

I'll take all the power and all the money you want to give me. What I do with it determines whether I am good or evil not the money or power itself.


Ed

Again, so far so good, but...

With, flowers, food, and so on, one only needs enough money to do the thing - so that ethical means can cope.

On the other hand, if the obect of love/desire is money itself, then there can never be sufficient - and unethical means as well as ethical ones can give more than ethical ones alone, so that evil becomes acceptable... and then common practice.

Or at least, that's what I understand from the saying that "The love of money is the root of all evil." (Although I'm not quite convinced by that "all". I think that love of power is another 'root'. That seems to me to be an equivalent 'end versus means' issue.)

Eff

 

[Goldie Munro]

money is not the root of all evil but GREED is!

 

[rgraham666]

money is not the root of all evil but GREED is!

They didn't make it one of the Seven Deadlies just because it sounded cool.

 

[Goldie Munro]

They didn't make it one of the Seven Deadlies just because it sounded cool.

Yup!

 

[Evil Alpaca]

They didn't make it one of the Seven Deadlies just because it sounded cool.

I understand that it just beat out "naughty" for that seventh spot.

 

[Goldie Munro]

I understand that it just beat out "naughty" for that seventh spot.

Out Out damed spot! (bad Shakespeare paraphrase!)