the almighty dollar

 The Almighty Dollar

Dr C. V. Ananda Bose

 

It was Washington Irving, the creator of Rip Van Winkle, who first used the expression ‘Almighty Dollar. ’ It was first used in his travalogue Creole Village.

He said so against the background of the frenzied way in which the American people were running after material gains. Finding relief that the people of the villages were by and large free from going after the mirage of economic might, her wrote: ‘The almighty dollar who is worshipped universally does not seem to have many disciples in the villages. Till such times as its missionaries infiltrate the villages and set up banks and other places of worship, the villagers will conitinue to live in the present state of contented poverty. ’

The venue was the residence of a friend in New York. Many people had assembled there. All Indians. I had gone to the U.S. to participate in the Habitat conference of the U N General Assembly. And the friends had come there to offer felicitations. The talk naturally went to the social and cultural status of the Indians in America. Everyone pointed to the good image of America. Ample freedom. Ample opportunities. With hard work and enthusiasm one can succeed in life. There is rule of law. All systems work efficiently and smoothly. Corruption is rare. So went the paeans on America. There was one thing on which there was unanimity of opinion. The culture here is not suited to us. The aim of life of an average American is to make money and spend it. Everyone is living for the self only. Family is not a problem. None care for the parents. When the children attain majori`ty they are set free. From then on there is no commitment on the part of the parents to the children or the other way round. One in the gathering was rather blunt. According to him the children appeared to say that they were brought to this world without their consent.

One of America’s top notch heroines of yester- years,Sophie Tucker,once said: “From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents, from 18 to 35 she needs good looks, from 35 to 55 she needs a good personality, and from 55 on she needs cash. ”

American society understands the importance of money and does not fight shy of proclaiming it wherever needed. They do not harbour the view that money is sin and poverty a virtue. Thomas Murphy who was Chairman of General Motors once said openly that the job of General Motors was not to make cars but to make money. When the fundamental stand of the society is such, there is no wonder unbridled competition to make money becomes the character of the society. Charles Revson, one of the titans in the American perfume industry, has said:’I don’t meet competition. I crush it. ’ MacDonald’s owner Ray Kroc goes one step further in dealing with competition. ‘If any of my competitors were drowning, I'd stick a hose in their mouth and turn on the water. ’ American media legend David Sarnoff has this to say on this competition culture without a human face: Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in men.

The view that money making is sin is becoming old fashioned. Especially in the context of privatisation and liberalisation. Even otherwise, has anyone, except philosophers and sages, found evil in money? According to Calvinist thinking God selects some who are dear to him. He also assigns certain symbols to signify his selection. Among such symbols are material gains. There are people who say this is a pholosophy that waves to capitalism the green flag of spirituality.

In the opinion of Adam Smith, a spokesman of unbridled economic freedom, capitalism’s craving for profit will prove to be beneficial to the society in the long run. When competition among the capitalists gets heated up, it will lead ultimately to a situation of social equilibrium. What it means is that there is in the society an unseen hand that controls such a process. Greed is part of human nature. A dog does not share the bone in front of it with any other dog. Even if there are many bones, dogs are wont to fight among themselves. In Adam Smith’s viewpoint what the government should do is to let the dogs go their way. Even if one dog gets fattened and others get starved it will not have any bearing in the larger perspective.

Greedy men are always like that. If they get ten they are satisfied with only hundred and if they get hundred they angle for a thousand. Guarding the money they have and making more money are matters that upset their peace of mind. Once there was a king who was always under tension. His anxiety gave way to a serious illness. Many physicians treated him, but he was far from getting cured. Then one physician suggested a way out. The king has to wear, just once, the shirt of a man without sorrow and the illness will go forthwith. The king promptly ordered a search. His emissaries met many rich people but they all had sorrows. Their constant worry was how to guard their money. Would they lose it, would they be robbed? The search finally came to a beggar sitting in the shade of a tree. Does he have any sorrow, he was asked. ’No, I don’t have any sorrow at all. I don’t have any money. So there is no fear that someone may steal it. I have some food with me enough for a meal and I can have a good sleep under this tree. ’ The king decided that it was this man’s shirt that was going to cure his illness. ‘But I don’t have a shirt,’ the beggar said.

It is money that gives a heartburn to many. The Bible says, love of money is the root cause of all evil. Mark Twain corrected it, saying lack of money is the root of all evil. John Muir was one of America’s early environmentalists. He walked a thousand miles to create awarenss about the need for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. And the wilderness was being dissected by E H Harriman,the great railroad builder who was creating a vast network of rail roads. He made a lot of money but he needed more money than what he had when more investment was needed for taking his rail projects further. Commenting on Harriman’s predicament Muir commented that he was richer than Harriman. ‘I have all the money that I need. But he does not have. ’ No doubt it smacks of Gandhiji’s philosophy. Renounciation. That is the sure way to happiness and contentment.

The matter becomes serious when worship of money transforms itself from being a social reality to a national character and then to a political ideology. That is because the routes through which money comes are fraught with danger. It has been proved many a time that the easiest way to make money is to wage a war. But money is required to wage a war. That means we are unknowingly thrown into the vicious cycle of money for war and war for money. Jean Paul Sartre said in 1951: ‘When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die. ’ Lloyd George who was British Prime Minister once underlined the link between money and war when he said ‘ The last 100 million pounds will win the war. ’ What is important is that the adverse impact of greed for money does not confine to the individual or to the society alone. It is a matter of grave concern that this greed ultimately gets transformed into a global disaster.