Dosh. Wedge. Coin. Bread.
Bills. Bones. Greenbacks. Dead Presidents. Loot. Sawbucks. Scratch. Shekels.
Loot.
The folding stuff.
Moooooooola.
There are so many different
terms for Money. I think we would all be richer without it. Cash is King here
in Singapore and life is all about Money. It is the national religion and the
collection and accumulation of it is worshipped.
How much does that cost?
How much do you earn?
These are all opening gambits
in everyday conversations. The Singaporean loves money and their worth is
measured by it.
The pursuit of it here is
relentless.
Now don’t get me wrong for I
know that money is important. We all need it to get by. I like the sound of it
jangling in my pocket and I like the feel of it. I always have some cash on me.
Multiple currencies actually.
I am looking in my worn
leather wallet now and I have $100 or so in Singaporean currency, $75 in US
notes, 1000 Nepalese Rupees and two Australian five dollar notes.
I have a wad.
I am a walking foreign
exchange office.
Money does keep the wolves
from the door. It puts a roof over my head and food on my table.
Food and shelter - I like and
need both.
I certainly don’t work for
free either but I am not obsessed by how much I earn or how much I spend. I
guess that is easy to say because I don't really want for anything. I would
probably be a bit more concerned and have a different perspective altogether if
I didn't have any.
Or if I didn't earn
any.
Money that is.
Money doesn’t
buy happiness nor love though. I know this for a fact. I am acquaintances
with many very wealthy people here in Singapore although I won’t claim them to
be friends. They are often sad and are more often miserable. On the flip side
some of the poorest people I know live in Nepal and these people are my friends
– they are not just acquaintances. They have no money.
Zip.
Nilch.
Nada.
None at all.
They are the
happiest people I have ever met.
By far.
By a long shot
in fact.
The whole money
shemozzle is complicated further by the credit system. This is perpetuated and
promoted by the Banks. I work for a Bank. I work for a very BIG one. I am a
part of the machine, a money making machine. We banks make most of our money
selling credit.
We finance
debt.
We rake in
billions.
Credit is a
system whereby a person who can't pay gets another person who can't pay to
guarantee that he can pay. Then he doesn't pay. He can't afford to and he never
could - which is why he got credit in the first place. Then it all falls apart
and we have a global financial crisis or two. Messy huh? Ridiculous.
Insane.
Crazy.
I actually have
enough money to last me the rest of my life. This is providing that I die
tomorrow - or unless of course I buy something.
Then I am
fucked.
There is a
perception too that money can actually solve any problem - all problems -
particularly here in Singapore. It obviously can't solve problems but it can
certainly create them. All money can really do is buy things or it can lease
them. It can perhaps then free people up to pursue those things that can't
actually be bought. Ironically these are more valuable things.
Does that make
sense?
I don't
know.
I should ask
the Nepalese.
Money - it's a
gas. It's a crime too apparently. So said Pink Floyd. I wouldn't argue with
those boys.
I wish you were
here.
I get the gas
analogy because my money seems to evaporate. It disappears into thin air all
the time. I am not so sure about the crime bit. I think it is only a crime if
you steal it.
Isn't it?
Abba sang
"Money money money. Must be funny. In a rich man’s world."
Crazy fucker
Swedes. I have no idea what they were trying to say.
I went to a
barbecue hosted by a bunch of Swedes on Saturday night. They were a very
strange group of blonde haired and blue-eyed people with whom I couldn't really
relate. They stood around the barbecue drinking schnapps and munching on
meatballs and they were mostly talking about the joy of nudity.
I ate their
food, I told them that I thought that IKEA and Volvos were an abomination and
then I left after only an hour.
I left before
they started to take their clothes off.
I think a rich
man is nothing but a poor man with money.
Nothing
more.
Nothing less.
I hesitated
before I accepted my current position in the BIG bank.
I baulked.
I am a firm
believer in social justice and I am appalled by the inequity of the fiscal
system. There is no doubt at all that the almost constant global financial
crises that the world is currently in was caused by greed perpetuated by the
Investment Banks on Wall Street.
Lending money to
poor souls who could never afford repayments.
Then selling
debt.
A catastrophic
collapse was inevitable.
Yet I became a
part of the machine.
I wanted to
change the world and I still do. The issue of climate change and global warming
and the extinction of species and other environmental calamities must stop. I
am a father and I want my children and my children’s children to inherit a
world that is not ravaged by pollution or ripped asunder by war and poverty.
I remain
convinced that the Financial and Insurance sectors are key players to
sustainability and change.
Over the past
five years I have witnessed the concepts of citizenship and corporate social
responsibility transform into something tangible.
Something real.
The energy crisis
the world is facing is biting and carbon economies are crumbling. There is a
realisation in big business that fossil fuels are in fact a finite resource and
they are becoming very expensive. Innovation in renewable energy is suddenly
blossoming.
It is blooming.
In the machine in
which I work the ideology of responsible lending and sustainability and
citizenship are becoming very real. In the past twelve months alone I am seeing
hard evidence of the very big brands and players banding together and espousing
schemes labeled sustainable letters of credit, net deforestation and green
bonds.
I delight in the
fact that my Employer is leading the way.
The global
polluters and big business that are killing our planet and making our animal
kingdoms extinct rely on the financial and insurance sectors to survive and
flourish. What if we say to them “no more”?
What if we say we
will not provide credit or banking or insurance to you unless you repair the
damage you have inflicted?
This is
happening.
It is a reality.
I am seeing it
for myself.
Come on then you
organisations that are not responsible.
You can’t survive
without us on board.
Clean up your act
or we will clean it up for you.
Bring it on.
Let’s dance.