Money money money

Let me say from the start that I believe in capitalism. Not that money is the key to happiness, but competition is, as a rule, a positive thing. It motivates people to work harder, and it fuels the economy. No matter where you are in the free world, a market economy is the best working model. Economics brought down the Soviet Union and is turning Cuba into a backwater. And it's the only reason China is opening up markets to the west. And yet...

Most of the world's problems can be traced to money. Africa is, from an agricultural point of view, one of the richest continents on the planet. They also have heaps and heaps of oil. So why are so many people starving and dying there? It isn't because there's no food. It's because the thugs who run so many African countries are rich and corrupt and can only keep their people under control by starving them. They have food and oil to spare but are not willing to share it. Instead they horde their fortunes. If they didn't control all that, they be on an equal footing. It's all about money.

The Middle East is, without a doubt, one of the most troublesome parts of the world. That is because, religious issues aside, you have essentially a number of competing tribes and kingdoms selling oil to fund ancient hatreds and feuds. Strip away the diplomatic trappings, and that's what you have. I'm not saying anything against Islam. I'm saying that their political systems haven't changed substantially since the crusades. What am I getting at? Just that if the oil they have wasn't so valuable, the western world wouldn't have to worry about them. They could carry on ancient grudges all they want, and the rest of us wouldn't be held hostage to them. I know there are important issues at stake and problems there, and the western world is responsible for some of those problems. I just think we wouldn't be spending half of our pay to fill our gas tanks if it weren't for the effect of money in the region.

Money is even one of the things that fuels terrorism. Terrorists cannot hope to gain power through any honest means. Instead, they build their fortunes through drug running and piracy, and use much of the proceeds to help starving and suffering populations. That in turn gives them a foot in the door to countries looking for anyone to lead them. Anyone who'll feed the people. Hello, Africa. Are you listening?

I'm not saying that money is evil. Only people can be evil. But as long as the world is ruled by money, we're going to suffer because of it.

But how about here at home... in your home? We all shop the specials here and there. Coupons can save you lots of money. But what else could we do? Think about this: one of the most popular things we see for kids is the juice box. You know, the little cardboard or foil/plastic packet filled with sugary 'juice mix' that typically contains no more than five percent juice. Each of these will usually cost at least a dollar or two and contain less than 12 ounces of juice. At the same time, a single packet of kool-aid, costing less than a dollar (30 cents here in expensive Las Vegas) makes two quarts. The juice box is a convenience and a time saver, and with the need for most homes to have two incomes, it's easy to see why we pay a little more to save some time. It's just regrettable that we have to do wasteful things in order to conform to a skewed model of economics. Why do we have it? Because of capitalism? No. Ideally, capitalism should result in lower prices as competition increases. What causes prices to increase while wages fail to keep up? A lack of competition. Prices go up because they can. There's no reason not to, and every excuse to increase the profit margin. And when the government steps in to regulate the market, those companies respond by saving their profits by cutting overhead. Lay-offs and pay cuts protect the profit margin but gut the working class. Capitalism good. Greed bad.