Is Money the Root of All Evil?

I had big plans for Christmas…

It was my daughter’s first, so I went a little overboard with obnoxiously noisy gifts (as one does). 

I had also purchased a $300 chateaubriand beef tenderloin I was going to use to make beef wellington for my in-laws.

It was going to be a great day, full of mirth, myrrh, and merriment. 

But when I began feeling a bit sickly the day before Christmas Eve, my plans were scrapped faster than a Roomba that blows instead of sucks.

I took a Covid-19 aka coronavirus aka SARS-CoV-2 test and you won’t believe it…

I passed!

And by passed, I mean it did not come out negative. I’m positive about that. 

So I got the ‘rona, despite rarely leaving the house. 

But. You know. That’s fine. I never enjoyed having functioning lungs, anyway. 

I wasn’t worried, really. I’m fit, relatively young, don’t have any relevant underlying conditions, and doubly vaccinated, which gave me a “70% chance of avoiding hospitalization,” a recent study showed.

So I quarantined myself to the third floor of my house, took a break from work obligations, stocked up the mini-fridge I have up there with supplies, grabbed a book about Russia’s October Revolution, and had enough cold medicine to bring down Charlie Sheen delivered to my house. 

If you’re thinking, “Wow. Everything in that sentence is supremely unrelatable. Lots of people don’t have any of those luxuries.”

We’ll get to that.

On Christmas Eve, my symptoms got bad. I passed the time by playing games, reading, and binging Netflix between TheraFlu-induced naps.

On Christmas day, my wife wanted to get a Covid test for herself, but went outside to find this had happened to our car:

Nothing was taken. Someone had just smashed our window on Christmas. 

You know. I hope doing it brought them a healthy dose of Christmas cheer. 

Because here’s the thing…

While this was indeed annoying…

For me and my family, it wasn’t life-changing. 

We contacted a mobile car window repair service. About $600 later, what was broken on Saturday was fixed by Monday without us having to come into contact with anyone. 

The point of this is not to flaunt what I have or shove it in your face, but to point out what working to become wealthier has given me…

An abundance of peace of mind, tranquility of spirit, and gratitude.

I don’t worry much and I’m rarely bothered, because I feel well armored against setbacks and problems.

Getting to this point in my life was purposeful, too. 

I had, for a long stretch of my life (especially when I was an adjunct college professor), been riddled with uncertainty, anxiety, and fear that a single financial misstep would ruin me.

So I began pursuing monetary wealth due to this simple truth:

Wealth Softens Catastrophes to Inconveniences

You might be going, “Well, duh? Obviously?”

I agree, it’s asinine to state something like “Money = good.” I’m not Gordon Gecko.

I spend a lot of time talking about investing. But investing is just one of many strategies one can employ to build wealth. 

So let’s take a step back…

I do think it is important to express why the intentional and value-driven pursuit of wealth is good and admirable - and I mean all types of wealth. 

But rather than blast your inbox with some "Being wealthy is great and here are the benefits! Look at me next to my Lambo" nonsense...

I want to approach this another way.

I frequently see three types of folks express what I’ll call “anti-wealth attitudes” that I think are worth dispelling:

• The “Money is the root of all evil” crowd.

• The “Rich people should feel guilt and shame” crowd.

• The “Wealth is zero-sum and everything the wealthy have comes at the expense of someone else being poor” crowd.

(There’s another group adjacent to these folks, whom we might label the “envious hypocrites” crowd. These internet denizens have no problem with conspicuous wealth, so long as it’s their own, and they seem simply mad at others because it hurts them to reflect on their own choices and modify their own behaviors… but there’s no point trying to rationalize someone out of an irrational position.)

I’m going to attempt to argue against these positions and make the case that the accumulation of wealth is, at its core, a fine thing to do.

Let’s begin by answering this question:

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

This has always struck me as a thought-ending cliche. 

If you label something as evil, you give your brain an excuse not to have to reconcile with or understand anything nuanced… 

It certainly shields you from having to contend with ideas that might challenge your beliefs. 

I suspect that’s what’s going on here, because this quote, that money is the root of all evil, has been taken out of its original context. 

Here’s the actual passage from 1 Timothy 6: 

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.”

Money is not the root of all evil…

The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. 

It’s good to have money if you can use it to buy yourself food and clothing (“raiment”) and other things that bring you contentment…

It’s not so good to pursue more for the sake of pursuing more… Especially if the pursuit of more money pulls you away from your values.

Contentment can mean your ability to provide for your family… it can mean being rich enough to create something that provides for others or advances society. 

Monetary wealth enables all of this.

Wanting “more money” for the sake of having more money creates a life where no contentment is possible.

Basically, so long as you’re building wealth with somewhat selfless aims and not feeling a sentiment along the lines of Charles Koch’s “I want my fair share, and that’s all of it”...

The pursuit of wealth is a worthy ambition for you.

And You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About Desiring or Having Wealth

Wealth and abundance is, by nature, comparative. 

It’s only possible to understand what you have in the context of what you otherwise would not. 

As in: “I have a nice car with unbroken windows. I feel wealthier than when I had a nice car with broken windows.”

This applies to wealth inequality between people as well. 

The poverty threshold for an individual in the U.S. is about $12,880. For a family of four, it is $26,500.

In 2020, there were 37.2 million people living below that threshold. 11.4% of the U.S. population. 

I feel immense compassion for the people struggling below that threshold…

And I feel immense gratitude and privilege that I do not have to contend with that.

That may not be politically correct to say. 

But I do think it is important to be mindful and cognizant of the privileges we have and grateful for them. 

(There's a non-trivial amount of research that suggests mindfulness and gratitude bolster optimism, well being, self-esteem, physical health, selflessness, and greater personal fulfillment.)

Privilege is one of those words that is value-neutral (neither good nor bad) that has through association, unfortunately, become politically charged in a negative way. 

English has, even in our current age, the phrasal cliche, "It is a privilege to be _____."

As in what you might say at a fancy dinner party: "It is a privilege to be here." 

The subtext is: It is better to be here than somewhere else.

That’s the comparative logic behind the simplest tool I've come across for determining whether someone has “privilege” in some form or fashion:

Ask yourself, in all honesty, if you’d trade places with someone in different circumstances.

Would I trade my affluence for a life of poverty? 

Would I trade being born and raised in America for being born in Somalia?

Would I trade my brain for one that functions or perceives the world differently?

No, no, and no thank you.

I feel privileged to have what I have. 

And there’s nothing inherently good or evil about that. 

You should attempt this exercise and begin asking yourself what aspects of your life you’d like to swap out…

And none of this “I’m happy with everything I have” BS. Be honest with yourself.

The upshot of this exercise is that it can help foster empathy and a stronger sense of what you value in life. 

For example, if you decide that you would rather not trade your healthy body for one that is unhealthy…

It can lead you to reflect on how you define “health,” and also what someone might struggle with due to a lack of it.

All this reflecting and meditating on privilege is, I would say, a productive exercise. 

If you reflect on what you have, what you’re grateful for having, and what you desire and why you desire it…

You could foster contentment (cf. that bible quote in the previous section), discovering that you are wealthier than you previously thought…

And you might also arrive at a clearer sense of your desires and what you are pursuing in life.

This process is and should be somewhat uncomfortable. 

You might discover yourself expressing some attitudes that you find detestable, or that you would be embarrassed to admit in a public forum. 

But in recognizing and being grateful for your privileges, you might also find yourself capable of accomplishing much with the abundance in your life.

That takes us to the final and possibly the most rational incorrect argument against wealth I see...

To Possess is to Deprive

This is the sentiment that I find most detestable, but which is also the one that seems to get the most traction from young socialists with iPhones.

The sentiment I’m talking about, in a nutshell, is that monetary wealth is a zero-sum game. 

It is the notion that if you accumulate wealth, you can only do so at the expense of others, or by preventing others from accumulating wealth.

You’ll see this notion espoused in articles: “Wealth accumulation has its roots in stolen land, stolen labor, and stolen lives.”

You’ll see it espoused by politicians: “No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.”

You’ll see it in think pieces: “Billionaires are more of a burden than an asset.”

Some of the folks advocating this notion have, at heart, the premise that “Property is theft.”

Still others seem to draw the line much like 1 Timothy 6, arguing that wealth above a certain amount is immoral and exploitative. 

The arguments go something along the lines of:

“Billionaires have an inconceivable amount of wealth.” 

To which I say, “So what? Since when did the supernovae in the sky spell out God’s decree that people should only have a conceivable amount of wealth?”

Then they say:

“Billionaires didn’t earn their wealth.”

To which I say, “So what? I didn’t earn baldness or my incredible sexiness. There’s no cosmic referee forbidding you from possessing things you didn’t earn.”

Then they say:

“Billionaires hoard their wealth and aren’t charitable. You can’t spend a billion dollars in a lifetime.”

To which I say, “Most of this wealth you’re talking about is illiquid.”

Then they say:

“What does that mean?”

To which I reply with this hypothetical story I’m going to pose to you…

One day, someone knocks on your door. It’s a team of lawyers in fancy suits with briefcases!

They say, “Hello Insert-your-name. We are a team of lawyers representing Dr. Shingles Incorporated, LLC, America’s Premier Shinglemaker. Your great-grandfather, unbeknownst to you, was America’s premier inventor of shinglemaking tools. He invented a process that improves the efficacy of our shingle froes by 2.718%. In our records, we discovered that he held the intellectual property rights, and as his sole heir you have inherited them. Dr. Shingles Incorporated, LLC, would like to buy it from you for a $1.618 billion private equity stake in the business.”

“Wow!” You think. “My great-grandfather is dead! What a bummer!”

But also, “Wow!” you think. “I was eating boxed macaroni in my sweatpants a minute ago and now I’m technically a billionaire.”

Now, first off, congratulations. Welcome to the world of the super-elite. You’re invited to the Met Gala and I’ve already prepared a tuxedo-dress for you with the words “Eat the Rich” on it.

But now, I have some important questions for you…

Where did this money come from?

This isn’t money in your bank account. It is the on-paper value of your legal ownership of a thing. It didn’t come directly from the sale of shingles, nor did it come from the exploitation of workers (you hope). It came from accountants who used a (problematic) valuation model or several of them to determine the net present value of the business, a process almost entirely abstracted from the day-to-day functions of the business itself.

Your net worth was determined entirely by forces outside of your control. You couldn’t even control it if you wanted to.

Yet this isn’t like winning the lottery: No chance was involved (just the privilege of having a really cool great-grandfather whom you wouldn’t trade for anything), and the value didn’t come from other people spending money that only you get to collect. 

You don’t even owe taxes on the wealth you’ve suddenly accumulated. Taxing you on this wealth would be like the government taxing you on a $400 Gucci bag you found in a dumpster: totally nonsensical.

What can you do with this money?

You can’t just sell your stake. I doubt you even know someone who will give you $1.618 billion for your stake of Dr. Shingles Incorporated, LLC. I also doubt the other owners of the company want to see their stakes go down in value, so what you can do with your equity will probably be pretty limited by an operating agreement.

And, again, it’s not like you instantly have financial resources at your disposal. If you want access to this money, you’ll need brokers and accountants and escrow agents and investment bankers and lawyers and and and and…

So even if you wanted to give away all your money to charity, it’s not going to be as simple or straightforward as cutting a check.

What do you say to someone who says your wealth is theft?

Even if you did not seek to become a billionaire… you are one because of the stuff you own.  

Are you a bad person?

I would say: No. 

You wouldn’t even be a bad person if you went right back to eating boxed macaroni and ended up doing nothing with that money.

We don’t live in a feudal society, where the rich aristocracy ONLY survives because of the exploitation of poor serfs. Yet so often the discourse around monetary wealth makes it seem this way.

Money is endogenous. Meaning: There is no authority in the universe who decides where money and value come from, or how much something should be worth.

Money and markets are all part of a complex dynamic financial system that permeates and affects every facet of the modern human experience.

If monetary wealth is not finite, and wealth distribution is not determined by controllable forces… then billionaires cannot be thieves, nor can they “take” their billions.

(This all gets way more complicated, but then we’d be venturing even deeper down a philosophical rabbit hole.)

So it’s here where I politely disagree with my Left-leaning friends…

Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett…

They’re not evil just because they have money and lots of stuff. 

I don’t want this to sound like me sticking up for billionaires, ‘cuz I’m not. They might be evil for other reasons - I’m not going to judge them or their ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

I’m simply pointing out what seems obvious to me…

The sheer fact that they’re billionaires isn’t indicative of a personal failing. Nor is it inherently true that their wealth deprives others of wealth.

And just because they didn’t “earn it” doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it. 

I’m not saying they DO deserve it, either. 

Wealth is a privilege. And like any privilege, it just is. 

Value-neutral. Neither good nor bad on its own.

But it’s pretty easy to see that it’s a lot easier to do good in the world and lead a contented life when you have wealth than when you don’t. 

So if your goal in life is to do some good…

To build something, to provide for others, or simply to be content…

To have the luxury of not having to worry much about covid or someone smashing your car window…

Then it’s fine for you to want to pursue wealth.

And anyone who says otherwise is full of $#!%.