Is money evil?

Money isn't evil, and neither are rich people

Let's say I buy some canvas-paper and paints. Cheap items, that I can get in a department store, or even a fancy craft shop. Now, lets imagine even farther from reality and pretend that I am a talented artist. As an artist of great skill, I use the materials that I have bought so inexpensively, and create a great masterpiece, something of great value. Something fantastic has just been done... wealth has just been created.

As a struggling artist, unemployed (not imagination), I put my painting up for sale. A patron loves the work, and pays a large sum to own it. Hear me out, this isn't just money being moved from the patron's account to mine, no, wealth has been created.

Let's look at another example. Let's say I'm a microchip manufacturer. I buy truckloads of sand (which is worthless) and by using the ingenuity of modern science, I turn that sand into a microchip. This sand has not simply been changed from one state to another, it has been turned from something relatively cheap, to something relatively more valuable.

In one final analogy, let's say that I'm unemployed (which would be accurate to say). Let's say that you ask me to mow your lawn, and I agree to do it for 40 bucks an acre. I work hard in the sun, and when the job is done you are happy and pay me my money. You value the cut lawn more than whatever amount you wound up paying me.

You see the painted masterpiece, the microchip, and the cut lawn are worth more than the craft supplies, the sand, and the unkempt lawn. In these scenarios, I have used creativity, intelligence, and hard work to improve them and make them more valuable. By extension, I have also made the world a better place by creating value, and therefore creating wealth. Let that sink in.

Wealth has been created. Money is simply a unit of exchange which represents wealth. I have provided a product or service, which you valued, and have benefited society.

Today we talk about those "evil one-percent", but if you consider what I have presented just now, those evil people may not be so evil. Maybe they are scumbags in their personal life, but their personal wealth represents only a fraction of the wealth they've created and given away to others.