The Root Of All Evil

I cannot count the number of times I have heard that the Bible says money is the root of all evil. If you search the Bible to find this you will be disappointed because the Bible doesn’t say it. What it does say is the love of money is the root of all evil. I think this is more than a distinction without a difference. There is nothing wrong with having money but there is a whole lot wrong with loving it. Take Warren Buffett for example. Buffett is 81 years old. He has 44 billion dollars and he is the third richest man in the world. He lives in a modest home in Nebraska and drives his own car. It has been reported that Buffett doesn’t really care about money he just enjoys making it. He is like a chef who doesn’t care about food, but just enjoys cooking it. Buffett has been called a great philanthropist but all I have ever heard is he plans to leave 99% of his estate to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Whatever he has donated over the years has not made a dent in his net worth. Unlike Facebook's Mark Zuckerman who gave 100 million dollars to the Newark Public Schools, I have never heard of Buffett doing much to help improve the lot of Americans living at or below the poverty line, or decrying the state of our educational system.   I have not heard of Buffett helping citizens who lost their homes, their savings, who cannot afford to send their children to college.  When Americans lost 10 trillion dollars in equity as a result of the financial crisis of 2008, Buffett remained one of the richest men in the world.  Buffett made money investing in companies who received bailout money. Since the start of the financial crisis he has made lucrative profits in Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and General Electric.  It has never been reported that Buffett has ever tried to persuade financial institutions to make any widespread effort to help homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, even those who have been diligent in their payments.  Why?  Because such an effort would impact his return on his investments.  Buffett says that the rich should pay more in taxes but he has yet to pick up his pen and write a check to the IRS. I have never heard that he even returns his social security check.  And while he doesn’t purchase the big houses, cars, and boats, he does use his money to acquire power.  Buffett delights in being called the Oracle of Omaha. He is like EF Hutton, when he speaks, people listen. The so-called Buffett Rule is hailed as the solution to our tax problem. His op-eds are talked about for weeks. When he is interviewed he never wipes the smile from his face.

I believe that Buffett loves money, because he loves power. President Obama has not invited the poor, the unemployed, the underemployed, and members of the dwindling middle class to the White House to give him advice on entitlements, homelessness, poverty, or jobs. Buffett is a regular visitor.  In spite of the fact that Americans made the Buffetts of the world rich because these people bought their goods and services, the rich don't offer the President advice on how to rebuild the middle class because they no longer need the middle class. There are only about 150 million American workers but there are millions more in China and India.  The rich don't offer advice on how to bring the gas prices down because they have no problem paying these prices.  Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric that alternative sources of energy is the real solution to high gas prices,  the rich see this as the new source of wealth. They tout the need for wind, solar and electricity, yet they love it that GM made a huge profit on vehicles that use gasoline. They push the Chevy Volt which cost $40,000.00 and which has been recalled due to problems with the lithium battery.  The rich talk out of both sides of their mouth.  They give advice which keeps the cost of gas at $5.00 a gallon (helping the oil companies), extolling the virtues of buying American cars (keeping the automotive industry profitable), and focusing on wind and solar energy (tomorrow’s source of wealth).  Making gasoline affordable is not on the agenda of the rich and powerful. Affordability is so yesterday. That small change adds up to a lot is passé. Today, there is not a need behind every decision made in Washington, only a dollar.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge Buffett making money. I want everyone to make money and lots of it. I would never subscribe to putting a cap on earnings nor would I want to impose taxes on the rich to punish them for their success. The haves do create the jobs. Yet, we have to remember that but for the have-nots, people like Buffett would have very little. But for the taxpayers paying for the roads, the military, the fire departments, and the police, the rich would not be able to transport their goods or be safe in their homes and businesses.

When the love of money takes precedent over the social contract, a contract that provided for all Americans to have an equal opportunity to succeed or fail in a system that was only partially rigged, we end up with greed, 20 million people unemployed or underemployed, and ultimately resentment.

I think the love of money is what is at the core of America’s problems because we can never get enough of what we love.