MONEY MONGERS

Money is something of value that we use in order to buy things or to pay bills. We do so, even though the American dollar, quite literally, has no intrinsic value whatsoever. It is paper (or much more to the point, digital “credits”) created in thin air and backed by no precious metal. 

Since they became “Federal Reserve notes” dollars became debt instruments because a “note” is, in fact, a promise to pay another, rather than being money given as an actual payment to that other, in order to discharge debt. 

Still, we all act as if cash is money because it is so-called “legal tender” that gets us things—groceries, gasoline, airline tickets—you name it. And people want and need money to function in the world. 

And where, generally speaking, is money kept? In banks. 

And what business has developed to make sure we protect ourselves from losses? Insurance companies. 

And finally, what business mechanisms have we created to limit our liabilities against losses? They’re called corporations. 

Banks and insurance companies are both for-profit corporations. They operate to make as much money as possible while paying out as little as is possible to people involved with them. Their bottom line, called “profit,” is their main concern—the amassing of as much money (also called “capital”) is what they do best. Thus they aim to aggregate capital and limit the money they pay out, whether that pay-out is to customers of their services or to shareholders of their corporations. 

The post-modern world now has computers and artificial intelligence (AI) that can emulate an actual person, whether by use of a chat program or by actual voice via telephone. Program the computers with the bureaucratic red tape and, for the unwary, it is often a trap, a sure recipe for a nightmare. 

Bureaucracy means prerequisites, steps that are required in order to facilitate action toward a particular purpose, to an end-point; and AI-enabled bureaucracy is bureaucracy on steroids. 

Negotiating the multi-layered rules that purport to safeguard the “money” within the above noted institutions is a staggering process. When you are owed money by an insurance company, for example,  and expect it to be wired into your bank account, getting to the available funds stage can be a harrowing experience. And the more digitized it is, the harder it is to proceed, especially for the more techno-illiterate, i.e., the older generation. It often takes someone who is much younger and more knowledgeable in using his or her computer and/or cell phone, and a resolute determination to get through every single digital obstacle presented. 

From doing an online photographic ID using a cell phone camera, to dancing around nuances from questions being asked—the daunting tasks asked of you can seem almost impossible to complete. And then there is the establishment of you as an actual person via your phone records. Woe to those who have bought a phone under one provider and then use it again but with another phone provider. You may find you have become a “nonentity” in the phone ID sense of being real. 

Codes are sent via text or email to verify you are the right person, the actual account holder. So much now depends upon the digital universe of things that those “Luddites” who aren’t all that ensconced in the digital world can easily find themselves disowned and displaced persons (with non-access to their own accounts!). 

And then there are the delays. Wiring funds is instant, but holding them for a number of days is the prerogative of the above noted corporate institutions—and this applies both to sending and receiving in the “money game.”  Yes, it is a game they play at your expense with funds YOU own and that wastes YOUR time and interferes with the conducting of YOUR own business as you see fit. 

And when it comes to “money” you will always find the government sniffing around trying to reach into your pocket via fees and taxes. Especially in international money transfers, the nifty regulations imposed upon the corporate players assures the government of its participatory piece of the action from your “money” transfer in not-so-sublime, take-it-or-leave-it ways. In short, consumers caught in the clutches of corporate money handlers are victimized at will by the avarice of the corporate players and their corporate government overseers. 

That is, the whole money handling and transfer business is closely monitored and you are a helpless pawn therein. If you cannot hire some shyster attorney to help you because you (surprise!) lack the funds, you may be shit outta luck.

Yes, oh my brothers and sisters, the money mongers are there and they will get you if you need their services. Be forewarned! And always remember: the government is NOT your friend and neither are the corrupt courts!