What makes the world go round? It's not money....?

Question

The age old saying "Money makes the world go round" is a sarcastic remark about how people put so much relevence on money. Money at the end of the day means nothing, it will not prolong your life and not prevent your death. It will not provide a better quality of life only a greater quantity of things in it.

So my question is if money doesn't make the world go round what does? If money is not worth the paper it is printed on why persue it?

Please do not answer with a short phrase, instead please explain your answers.

Thanks.

Answer 1

So we begin with money as the apparent cause or purpose and end up with desires..... but then why we keep desiring, unendingly? I have a view on this.

The reason we desire is because we want to satisfy 'self'... even those desires that seem to arise out of love or compassion etc. are basically to satisfy the self infested with love, compassion etc.

So why does our 'self' never seem to get satisfied? Thinking through, I get to the conclusion that the unending dissatisfaction is due to an ever present feeling of insecurity which works like this.... at the first stage it is due to fear of current damage to or deterioration of self.... the next stage is due to worry of future damage to or deterioration of self..... and finally it arises from feeling of not being perfect, which surfaces when we compare ourselves with others and we erroneously identify it as our penchant to excel, whereas it is actually an inferiority awareness due to knowledge of our own inadequacies and imperfections.

I therefore believe that the world goes round driven by an ever present sense of insecurity, which never ends because of the uncertainty of future and inconsistencies of the present.

I hope all this bla...bla makes some sense.
Thanks for a really great question deserving more than a serious thought!!!!

Answer 2

First, you need to define 'making the world go round'.

I suspect one definition many people will agree with is 'what drives history'?

Which, oddly enough, could be simply stated as 'money', without sarcasm. It's a simple fact.

but what do we mean when we say that? It is certainly not the green paper with numbers on it. It is what that money signifies.

In a simpler world, it was 'what do we need to survive and procreate', thus good hunting grounds, strong tribal bonds, and things of this nature.

Eventually skills became important, the working of stone, and metals, agriculture and similar abilities.

Periodically the ability to wage war would propel a culture over those who had knowledge, but in the end, eventually the knowledge that can maintain a culture would erode the power of the blade, only useful when expansion is available.

Industry was the next big step, shifting the numbers from the rural to the urban life styles. The more advanced cultures became the people who built the best weapons, putting them firmly in control. (For now, anyway.)

With the means to survive now seperated from what we for a living, money becomes the symbol of the same skills that have brought humanity to it's current status...

So when you say money makes the world go round, what you are really saying is that our urge to survive is what makes things go, and honestly, I can't disagree.

Answer 3

Well, of course it all depends on perspective. I mean, technically, money really does make the world go round, but I think you are asking what should make the world go round. To answer, you should consider why money is so important to people. You say that money will not prolong your life, but certainly it is true that the medical equipment necessary to prolong one's life is very expensive. We pursue money to ensure a greater quality of life which we pursue to ensure our survival. Pre-historic man, what were his aims?--to live and to procreate; these two desires are simply ingrained instincts at this point in our existence.

But anyway, more to the point and what makes the world go round for me: our relationships with other people and staying true to ourselves. When we are on our deathbeds, and we look back on our lives, we can feel pride in these two things, and only these two things-- how many people did I touch and did I ever compromise myself or my beliefs. If we care about others and their well-being, clearly this will make the world a better place. If we stay true to ourselves, then nothing can ever cause us to feel regret or guilt.

Answer 4

Love of course. Love is the reason we exist.

If you don't have love then all the money in the world won't fill the void. Love is the quality in our life.

When you love yourself, others & the world you experience happiness & fulfillment. When you don't have love, you suffer an unbearable emptiness that you can't define. You try to fill it with possessions, fill it with power, fame, sex, substance abuse, anything & nothing seems to take the pain away, nothing is enough. Because the void you feel can only be filled by love.

Don't get me wrong. Money is important. To exist in today's society it definitely helps! I work at a job I hate to pay the mortgage. However, it is love that keeps me going. It is love that makes life worth living. It is love that makes me happy. Without it, I could not exist & life would be meaningless.

Answer 5

personally i think money does indeed contribute greatly to making the world go around, but not just the greed, i mean the transaction capability that money represents, in what we can accomplish with it. emotion is the rest of the equation. the two combined accounts for most things that we do.

money can make a better life, it cannot make a perfect life and there are things money can't buy, but it is an essential despite whatever people say in self righteous denial of the facts of life. either that or we go back to the barter system. money isn't just printed paper, it's a representation in portable, functionally practical form the transaction potential of something. humanity came up with money because carrying a cow in your pocket to barter with was quite clearly not a practical way to get things done. money represents something universally accepted to get things done with. a person will not do everything for the good feeling it may or may not give him, but money represents what he gets in return with which he can buy the essentials for him to stay alive.

emotion of course is rather obvious in it's contribution. love, hate, compassion, greed, empathy and envy and everything else you can think of. everything money alone cannot explain can often be explained by out incredible drive to fulfill our desires, whatever they may be, good or bad, depending on individual perspective.

Answer 6

Manny makes the world go 12 rounds.

Answer 7

You are right, money doesn't make the world go round, like the other guy said its desire. Money is representative of desire, basically because we humans have been ultimately trained to make our lives better, we all search for the happiness we would all like to achieve. People wanting silks from China traded goods, since they desired to have such beautiful things, they made it more uniform with gold, soon gold represented desire, everything you could possibly want can be bought by money. Yes money cannot make the world go round, its the desire for it. You see oil wars in the middle east: Why? The desire for black gold. The desire to have a better life all drives us to do things we don't want to do. In effect desire makes the world go round, Money means nothing...the desire for it however it means everything.

Answer 8

Just print more money will solve the problem.
Not those fake printing notes. I am refering to those geniune notes that every governments in the world are doing it. Nobody knows about it. Because large quantities of money are the most difficult to trace and wasting effort and time.

Forget those people in charge of money because human can be corrupted. See again, the world go round and round again....

Answer 9

The constant tugs, pulls, pushes, shoves, and kicks the universe has upon this planet is what makes this world go round. Controling everythin in its grasp, from sand to mountains, from ants to humans. It is all guided by the power of the universe.

Answer 10

oh it won't?

-What do you buy your groceries with?
-What did you use to buy your house?
-What are you saving in order to send your children to college?
-What pays for your medical bills?
-What does your boss give you every two weeks?

Are these people really just giving these things to you? Or are they trying to make money? Don't both of you win, regardless?

Money is merely a medium of exchange, which exists to facilitate trade. Trade is categorized by the free co-operation of two separate individuals. You are free to give him your money for his goods, and you are free to refuse him. Freedom is the basic tenent for human cooperation. By engaging in the process, you agree to take part in a society where men are free, not enslaved to each other.

Granted, someone that wants money for the sake of money lives an empty life, but that is because they are focused on living to impress others, which is really the only reason to have an excessive amount of money, rather than live for themselves or their loved ones.

So money does make the world go round. Or rather, freedom makes the world go round.