The abstraction of money in the capitalist society
Another statement that may get you certified in western society is: "Money is not important." This can be confused with "Life isn't important". "What do you mean, money isn't important?" "How are you suppose to live, if you have no money". He or she will then shake their head and walk away in bewilderment from someone who makes no sense to them.
Rich or poor will both agree on this. It is as if we have been hot- wired to channel all of our senses of well being, love, pain, passion, imagination and progress, to the value of money. Money has become an abstraction for feeling. It reminds me of the cartoon where the business man, in a pang of conscienceness, mulls over the terrible problems of the world; then he checks his bank balance and the world becomes OK again.
We have multimillionaires talking in the media, discussing the merits of "A fair day's work for a fair day's pay"... No one ever questions the fact that this person's wage is a million a day. It goes unnoticed and is taken for granted in a media system that closely resembles the propaganda portal of an elitist sect. The worship of money musters the zeal and obsession of any sect you care to mention. People will brush off sects as cranks,or religious nuts, but then turn to worship the machine of commerce, with all the blind faith that is needed to turn out useless commodities, in return for the abstraction, money. What makes a sect that worships "money " different from any other?
We need to view money as just another power technology that stands in the way of understanding real social value. Money renders people useless, if their skills, position or possessions can not be measured by money.
What is needed is the opposite, and what Parecon is proposing is an economic system that values "effort and sacrifice" above the abstraction of "physical possessions", of which money is "king".