Genius of Money Chapter 1 & 13

Chapter 1: Tribute Paid

In this chapter the author discusses the interworking of money and its relation to the religious and spiritual worlds.  He refers to the gospel of Matthew where Jesus questions the integrity of taxes. Jesus then questions another tax collector asking him what was engraved on the coin required for tax. The tax collector responded that it was Caesar with Jesus responding, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s”. Thus bringing into conflict the tax collector’s religious values and beliefs on monetary duties. The author then refers to a painting, The Tribute of Money, depicting this story where Jesus is looking directly into the eyes of the tax collector, an act the author states has been eliminated in modern transactions. We can now transfer money with a touch of a button, but what implications might this change in behavior have? Would more physical transfers of money lead to less corruption in the financial world?

In today’s society, religion and money have become undoubtedly intertwined.  The notion of the separation of church and state cannot be validated within our country with such stout contradictions to that mantra present. One major example of this is the presence of the phrase “In God We Trust” on the back of our dollar bills. Even Jesus was interestingly calculated in his initial choice to appease the Roman Empire by instructing Peter to pay the tax. His acknowledgment of the need to partake in the interworking of money and religion (until he’s ready to oppose those in power) displays the effect one has on the other. As we alluded to earlier, The Tribute of Money helps to portray how we might make this unavoidable connection more honest. Personalizing financial transactions and forcing people to look into the eyes of those that they may be attempting to take advantage of could help fight against the greed money creates.

In the second half of the chapter the author refers to a poem, “Deciding”, by William Stafford which tells a story of miners who find gold so beautiful that they decide to leave it there, as something as beautiful as that belonged to God. These miners were able to push back their natural materialistic desire and greed to uphold their spiritual values. The author encourages the reader to make this connection in our thinking about money. How can we link these two widely different views about value to demonstrate our true intentions?

While the benevolence of the miners is admirable, it may be somewhat unrealistic in today’s society. We have created a perpetuating cycle of empowering the rich while suppressing the poor. Thus, the rich become filled with greed and would have no restraint in taking the gold for themselves, while the poor would see the gold as their only way to escape from the hole society has kept them in. It displays how our society can cause financial concerns to outweigh our true spiritual and religious identities.   

Chapter 13: Money and the Modern Mind

The author begins the chapter by stating that those who value generosity and compassion are not as visible and are offered little reward for taking such a position in modern day society. I would say that this statement in not entirely true. I believe that people in general highly admire those who choose to donate their money. I do believe that people may react in disbelief at their choice to do so simply because it is not the typical way of thinking. It is definitely not the norm to share your wealth with others, especially strangers. The author then goes on to discuss how money is associated with authority and power simply because it is issued by the central government. I do not believe that this is the case. No one thinks about where there money comes from, they think about what they can do with it. The resources money supplies symbolize the real power behind it. These resources could range from fancy yachts to beautiful women, to buying power in politics as Donald Trump has so gracefully demonstrated.

The author then tells a story about a man named J.S.G Boggs who makes counterfeit money. Through his exceptional skills as a draftsman he traveled the world on his counterfeit funds. Boggs even turned his transaction encounters with the counterfeit money into art pieces at a gallery. Along with the original counterfeit money that would later be bought off the unfortunate soul who has mistaken it as real, Boggs would display the receipt and change given in “real” money. These art pieces demonstrate how our monetary system is highly based on perception and fiction. It is also interesting to note that by turning the counterfeit and “real” change money into art he has increased the value of the money tremendously. I thought this was really interesting way at looking at things. Our value system is no longer based on how an item would contribute to our survival but an arbitrary process where value is based on a price tag or a name. An example of this is Kanye West’s new clothing line, just because it is associated with the name a plain white t-shirt can run you about $120.

The author then talks about a story known as the “Grave Mound” where a rich farmer is called upon to reflect on what he has done with his wealth. It reminded me of the role Scrooge plays in “A Christmas Story”. The farmer recognizes what little good he has done and takes an opportunity to give money to a starving peasant only under the condition that the peasant watch over his grave for 3 days after he dies. After the farmer dies the peasant follows through on his word, and takes watch over the grave. While keeping watch he asks a soldier to assist him and the Devil arrives shortly after to take the farmer’s soul. In order to ward off the peasant and the solider from protecting the grave the Devil offers them a monetary reward. The solider accepts as long as the Devil fills up his boot with gold. The solider then cuts a hole in his boot and places it over a hole in the ground so that the Devil can never fill up of the boot. By the time the Devil realizes the sun has already risen and the farmer’s soul is saved. The solider and the peasant are left with the gold with the soldier offering his portion up to the peasant’s family. This really forces the reader to think about what they would really do in this situation. Would they be willing to give such a large sum of money away? What good do they currently do with their wealth?

I thought this chapter was overall pretty easy to understand even though I didn’t agree with all of the author’s points. It definitely mentioned some topics that I believe people tend to push out of their minds because they know what is morally right to do with their extra wealth but that doesn’t always align with what they want to do with it.