Addiction to Money as Pathology.

Money, A Necessary Evil:

A Critical Analysis of the Most Powerful Drug

Figure 1: Man collecting money in his shirt

        When it comes to money, we always want more. Surprisingly, the ‘money plague’ starts at a very young age as naïve children place their baby teeth underneath their pillow for a payment from the Tooth Fairy in exchange. Even though it is a concept introduced and promoted by adults, this shows that addiction to money can begin long before one realizes the importance of money in the economy. Nowadays, we want the best cellphone, laptop, and clothes, and money gives us the power to fulfill our obsession with these first-world luxuries. So “money, is like a genie in a bottle, and it can morph into any shape and help us bring our most startling dreams to life. It can buy stuff, status and sometimes even people” (Dayton, 2011, para. 1). Although, what is “money”? According to Sosteric (2016), “money is simply abstracted labor time as it allows us to exchange labor time with each other efficiently and fluidly” (p. 15). In simpler terms, when I use the money I earned at my job to purchase food, I exchange my labor for food, and money simply lubricates that process as I can use dollar bills to convert my eight-hour labor into food, gas, and rent. While some people use money to fulfill their obsessions, others use it as a means to survive, showing that money is not inherently evil, it is inherently social. It only “facilitates evil since it facilitates the accumulation and control of labor power ” (p. 20-21). Said accumulation occurs when one’s love for money distorts their human nature and view of the world. The accumulation of labor power in a monetized economy results in a dangerous addiction to wealth as there are no limits to collecting money, and this negatively affects one’s relationships and eventually becomes the cause of all of our local and global problems. Even though money is unlike cocaine or heroin as it is not possible to physically overdose, it is a frightening addiction that can be tragic for the mental health of an addicts' “spouse, descendants, employees, and the larger populations they impact” (Minel, 2018, p. 5).

While it is not illegal to possess a large amount of money, a behavioral addiction such as accumulating wealth is similar to drug addiction, as an addict will feel like less of a person without their money. Not only is such an addiction dangerous to the world around us, but it also heavily impacts our personality and actions while physically altering the biology of our brain. An “obsessive relationship with money can kick start the release of chemicals like dopamine which produce a ‘high’ that is similar to the chemical high of a drug” (Dayton, 2011, para. 4). This chemical imbalance allows the person to develop a tolerance for money, where enough is never enough. To feel the same “high” as before, one will need to accumulate more and more wealth. This addiction primarily targets those who have experienced financial setbacks, felt inferior, faced social rejection, or humiliation due to their lack of money (Minel, p. 3). This trauma arouses motivation to obtain money through any means possible, and despite its innocent beginnings, it can turn into a destructive journey. Soon an addict's relationship with money becomes the pinnacle of their life. This results in behaviors such as excessive risk-taking, overspending, and workaholism. Most addicts are in denial and will justify their actions: “to cover financial needs, to access comfort, afford luxury, to invest, and secure the future” (p. 2). By blaming circumstances outside of their control, an addict will hide their addiction from themselves and the world, and continue to give in to this endless craving. For instance, Polk (2014) wrote: “In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million — and I was angry because it wasn’t big enough... I wanted more money for the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted” (para. 1). While Sam was able to step back and reevaluate his priorities, that does not mean every addict can do the same. The addiction to money is a global issue that starts at a young age, so to reverse the damage, we need to get educate the general population about the dangers of encouraging the hoarding of money. Of course education is not accessible all over the world, but we need to incorporate this education where we can so we can start somewhere. The addiction to wealth begins from and impacts us at a sociological and biological level, so get yourself or others the help they need (Sosteric, 2020, p. 27) before they become like Sam Polk (2014), “a giant fireball of greed” (para. 13). 

In today’s world, it is difficult to find someone who has not shown signs of money addiction. I am ashamed to admit that when I explore possible career opportunities, my initial web search includes ‘salary’ rather than my interests. Unsurprisingly this is the case for many individuals and this attitude towards money slowly bleeds into their daily interactions with friends and family. Addiction to money as pathology draws people closer as they want to be a part of the rich inner circle. Although, this closeness can lead to feelings of jealousy within family relationships, as people start to judge each other based on their financial capabilities rather than through a lens of deeper values and worth (Dayton, 2011, para. 6). Also, money addicts are dependent on having control over other people as the newfound success and sense of superiority helps them to hide feeling out of control or frustrated. Also, there might be other vulnerabilities such as drug, retail, gambling, or alcohol addiction. Although this pretense of control and independence evokes feelings of “neediness”, and the addict fully indulges themselves in denial as they try to ignore these feelings by blaming others for their actions. The addicts also engage themselves in active self-delusion as “they can see that something important has changed but are just blithely ignoring it” (Sosteric, 2016, p. 40). The Baker’s story from Sosteric’s book, The Rocket Scientists' Guide to Money and the Economy: Accumulation and Debt (2016), captures the greed and ignorance associated with an addiction to wealth as an individual named Joe increases the price of his bread since he sees no problem with “taking a little profit and accumulating a little extra labor” (p. 28). While everyone else in the community is exchanging their labor fairly, Joe now possesses more money and power over them, which means he can hire cooks, maids, gardeners, and essentially buy other people’s labor. By declaring his “profit” as a part of ‘nature’s evolutionary plan and his divine right’, the addict finds a way to avoid the blame for any possible havoc in the community as it is simply part of “God’s plan”. Over time, Joe’s attempts to censor and obscure his secret to “profit” make everyone else feel confused, and uncomfortable, causing a rift in their relationship. This shows that by neglecting the healthy flow of money in the community and choosing to value wealth over his trusted acquaintances, Joe upset his relationship with the community, and his greed started the downfall of a society that was previously working in harmony without any issues.

Figure 2. Mike Soserics's book: 
"Rocket Scientist's Guide to Money and the Economy"

While the “Baker’s story” begins at an individual level, the problem with the accumulation of wealth is shown at a greater level as Joe’s experience with money simultaneously affects the socioeconomic system of his community.  He increases the price of his product for some profit, but by hoarding labor power, he lessens the amount of money that is in circulation in the economy. Over time, he gains profit while the rest of society has to learn to live on less money. Also, by introducing the concept of taxation, and product differentiation, which is a “marketing strategy that strives to distinguish a company’s products from the competition” (Kopp, 2020, para. 1), those at the bottom of the social ranks are hit the hardest and fall even further down the pit of desperation and oblivion, while those at the top continue to look for more ways to increase their “progress” (i.e., more accumulation). We slowly start to see how the uneven flow of money caused by accumulation not only causes “massive distortions in human nature and human activity, but also causes massive failures in the general economic fibre of life on this little global community we call Earth” (Sosteric, 2016, p. 23). So what happens when poor people suffer due to a lack of resources? Nothing. The rich simply turn the other cheek and ‘eat cake’ while the poor try to convince themselves they are “God’s people” (Sosteric, 2016, p. 53) and lose each other to poverty, starvation, and eventually death. Most people accept their situation because they believe in each other and God. This is also seen in European history, where:

The divine right of kings asserted that kings derived their authority from God and could not, therefore, be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament…Although events like the Industrial Revolution (1775-83), French Revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic Wars deprived the doctrine of most of its remaining credibility. (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019, para. 1)

The totalitarian discourse about the relation between religion and wealth is one that has spread locally and globally, and it seems that to survive in this fast-paced world, it is necessary to earn a lot of money while being in constant competition with others. This affects everyone as we all battle each other during every stage of our life and compete over high-school grades, better-paying jobs, bigger houses, and fancy cars. While we compete to make it to the top in fear of falling to the bottom, those at the bottom are already suffering and some can no longer afford the necessities of life. Although, if there was no greed for money and we could not get “high” off of money, then we would be able to barter our resources with each other without worrying about losing money and ourselves to the dark world of modern economics.

        Unfortunately, the problem with a money addiction does not stop at a local level as every local economic system in the world is connected globally. According to Sosteric (2017), “the 62 richest people on the planet have more money than 3 billion people combined” (6:00), so essentially the 62 richest people have the power to buy the labor of three billion people on this planet, which is a frightening reality. The addiction to accumulation often causes individuals to go to great extents to protect and increase their wealth, even if that means engaging in illegal and unethical practices. The most common trend is the 1% stealing money from everyone else, and making it look like they are doing us a favor (Atkins, 2014). By introducing planned obsolescence and product lifecycle (fast fashion), the top 1% designs products with shorter shelf lives, and continue to release newer expensive products, all in attempts to increase their wealth. This way people at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder need to work harder and longer to be able to replace their products and will work exploitive jobs to afford the necessities of life. For instance, both Apple and Samsung were rightfully convicted and fined when it was discovered that certain smartphone software updates hurt the performance of the device, thus encouraging the purchase of newer phone models (Gibbs, 2018). Aside from being a financial problem, it is also an environmental issue as “keeping old phones around longer significantly reduces your phone’s environmental footprint” (Nash, 2019, para. 5), thus showing that these corporations harm us on a macro-level. Also, both companies claim that they have a “zero-tolerance policy” towards underage labor and conduct regular and rigorous audits of their supply chain, yet were unable to state the source of minerals (i.e., cobalt, which is a vital component of batteries) they used. Wakefield (2016) states that:

UNICEF estimates that approximately 40,000 children are working in mines (for cobalt) across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Mark Dummett, a business and human rights researcher said that mining was "one of the worst forms of child labor". He added: "The glamorous shop displays, and marketing of state-of-the-art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks and miners in narrow man-made tunnels risking permanent lung damage. Companies whose global profits total $125 billion cannot credibly claim that they are unable to check where key minerals in their productions come from". (para. 21-24)

These mining companies also contribute to many pollution issues that have significant impacts on water and aquatic ecosystems which results in birth defects (Kelly, 2020, para. 1). By engaging in illegal activities in third-world countries like DRC, India, and China, many big corporations escape legal punishment and engage in colonial exploitation where they “exploit a countries population as labor and its natural resources as raw material” (Blakemore, 2019, para. 1). To conclude, the ripple effects of money addiction are seen globally and soon become the root of most local and global problems throughout the world.

Through this paper, I explored the effects of money addiction from an individual level to a global level to showcase the “evil” which is associate with money. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil, as our world would not function without money. Sosteric’s (2017) video offers great solutions to the problem of ‘debt’ such as education, debt jubilee, and revolution while also providing a solution to the issue of accumulation. He claims that is necessary to limit/end accumulation, and that can be achieved by placing a limit on the amount of money one can earn. With such a limit, the chances of developing an addiction to money would decrease greatly and this would decrease many global issues that occur due to this addiction. A recent study shows that the money “satisfaction point” occurs at $95,000 (with variation across world regions) so Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg may experience the same amount of happiness as a local restaurant manager (Jebb et al., 2018). Not only could implementing this knowledge in our life make the world a better place, but it would also essentially make us happier by affecting us mentally and therefore having a domino effect on our relationships with friends, family, and the community. Currently, we can educate young children and promote healthy lifestyles about money, while striving for a content life rather than one of desires which come at the cost of others’ livelihood.



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