What does money mean to you?

[Aquatiq]

HI Bio!!!

[Kim]

What money means to me

mo problems

[Epinephrine]

I couldn't stand to work for a company that did things like that. Always seeing the world in terms of efficiency, it would drive me nuts to see my company waste money like that. I'm quite certain I'll end up being one of those people who has a lot of money just because I spend so little on myself. Whether that's a good or bad thing I don't know, just how I am.

Unfortunately (or not) your views aren't the views of most people out there. Being an economist you probably know this, but I'll say it for everyone else since there are a lot of people on this thread questioning it.

The job market these days is still a "seller's market" in many areas even after the tech bubble burst. The fact is, workers these days are less and less faithful to their jobs (they will leave to a 'better' job much more easily than in the past) and turnover rates are high. As well, it is also getting harder and harder for companies to find good workers as corporations are doing more and more to attract highly skilled workers.

Think of it this way. If you had two equal jobs with equal pay, but one job had a free Coke machine and the other didn't? What if they both had free Coke machines but one lets you have a nice catered lunch every Friday, and takes out you for a fancy dinner every Thursday, which job would you take? Now what if two jobs did the same thing, but one gave you the opportunity to work in far-away offices and fly you there and let you live in corporate apartments so that you could 'see the world' instead of being stuck in one spot?

The fact is Meryll Lynch is willing to spend so much to attract workers because they want to show you that they are a good place to work and that they will take care of you. If they flew you first class, and other companies just had you over to McDonald's for an interview what would impress you more?

These companies are not 'wasting' money, just think of it as an advertising fee or perhaps just part of extra expenses for their payroll. So what if they spend a lot of money on their workers? If they are still a successful company (meaning people still pay the premium it will cost for their services) then what's the problem? The only problem is if they spend so much on their workers that the company goes bankrupt, but then again most companies aren't so stupid.

The free market is supposed to be the most efficient way of increasing our standard of living. If companies think that your skills are worth so much, and consumers though the products and services offered by the company are worth the price, then there is no problem. If I got a free dinner every week I think my standard of living would rise just a bit above not getting a free dinner every week. When I talk to my friends, and I hear how some people have jobs where the companies really take care of them, and some don't (even if they make the same amount of salary), if I had to choose, I'm pretty sure I'd take the company that puts in that extra effort, of course after accounting for other things like ability to rise within the company, reputation of the company and the type of work I'd be doing.



As for Tone's post, those janitors and so on ARE appreciated by society. They are appreciated by exactly how much they are worth to society via the free market. If there aren't enough native born people willing to do those jobs, then that's what immigrants are for. If there still aren't enough, then we pay them more. While I admit the free market isn't 100% perfect, I think for a sector as large as janitorial and cashier services, the free market is pretty damn good at gauging exactly how much they are worth.



As for the question about what do you think of money... Well for me just as it was for Eric... money = freedom.
1) The freedom from never having to worry about not having enough money to: eat, pay the rent, take care of your family, take care of yourself.
2) The freedom to whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted within reason.



P.S. Eric, you should work for Wal-Mart, I hear they skimp on absolutely everything even for the top executives.

[Eric is God]

Decent chance I'll end up being one of those people who gets contracted out to go into companies and find ways to make them more efficient. Although that would probably include deciding who to fire and I don't think I'd enjoy that aspect of it.

[Epinephrine]

Decent chance I'll end up being one of those people who gets contracted out to go into companies and find ways to make them more efficient. Although that would probably include deciding who to fire and I don't think I'd enjoy that aspect of it.

Are you a fan of Michael Bolton? (I love Office Space ehhe)

[Blanke]

Bio, what school do you attend?

I'm thinking about business, and am currently applying to colleges. If you could message me, that would work too.

I hope you dont' mind sharing your personal information (locatioN). Thanks

[BleakFuture]

Are you a fan of Michael Bolton? (I love Office Space ehhe)

Heh remember in the movie where everytime he opened that door he got a shock? that happens to someone at work but only when he touches one of the separaters that separate each work station/desk. Its very amusing when he goes to lean on one because once he starts to, a look of rememberance covers his face just as he gets shocked. Then he dances around looking for more attention. Ahh good times.

[Ephemeral]

First off, money is not evil. Everyone needs to get their nomenclature right. Money is capital. Capital is dynamic thing that is merely a way to denote the concept of value, it is neither good or bad.

What many people are really trying to say is that WEALTH is evil. Wealth is the hording (saving) of capital (money). It is possible that wealth could be either good or bad.

[DoTheFandango]

Money means happiness.

</thread>

[Mobey]

MORE MONEY = sex

A BIGGER TOASTER = More sex

IF YOUR GAY = Less sex

Lesson learned.

[Ephemeral]

As for the question about what do you think of money... Well for me just as it was for Eric... money = freedom.
1) The freedom from never having to worry about not having enough money to: eat, pay the rent, take care of your family, take care of yourself.
2) The freedom to whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted within reason.

P.S. Eric, you should work for Wal-Mart, I hear they skimp on absolutely everything even for the top executives.

See my post above about your use of nomenclature.

So what you mean to say (I think) is, 'wealth frees you from doing things you dislike. Since you dislike doing nearly everything, wealth is handy'.

[DoTheFandango]

Dude, all this time I thought you two were the same person.

Holy shittttt.

[Epinephrine]

See my post above about your use of nomenclature.

So what you mean to say (I think) is, 'wealth frees you from doing things you dislike. Since you dislike doing nearly everything, wealth is handy'.

Sorry I meant to say 'having [a healthy amount of] money to me means freedom' or at least having money in the context of what I believe the original question to be. But since this isn't English class I think basically everyone who read it understood what I meant. If you want a more complete definition of money, I guess I will say:

"An income of >$100,000 a year after taxes (or equivalent in a lump sum), while living in a country with universal healthcare or at least having a top quality private health plan included, with no outstanding debts other then debts that I choose to pay myself such as a mortgage and no any other extenuating cirumstances that would require me to use up a lot of that money. Extenuating circumstances meaning situations where money would be used where I did not want it to be used, and where these situations are not considered normal uses/bills/payments for the average individual in that income bracket."

If I were a law student I'd make it spiffier of course but I hope you understand what I mean.



As for your interpretation, you are incorrect. It seems like you're making me out to be some lazy ass who wants to use wealth to make me do nothing in life. I honestly don't know where you get that from (perhaps you're confusing me with the guy who said that having money means he could hire a cleaning person to clean his house because he hates cleaning). I wasn't born with money and as such I will be working very hard to make my money. Nor do I mind doing a lot of things, I just believe that having a lot of money will enable you to do more things that you could if you didn't have that much money.

What I was trying to say is exactly what I said. Having a lot of money (or being wealthy if you may) allows for freedom in life (freedom I'm sure you know can mean a lot of things, and for this discussion I will use the word 'freedom' in the 'freedom 55' commercial type of way if you catch my drift, otherwise you can try your best interpretation at what I mean):

1) If I don't have to always worry about making the next payment for rent, or buying food or having enough to raise my kids I think that's a GOOD thing. It frees me from the worry that a lot of people would have if they had no money, and allows me to do other things. If I don't have to bust my ass every day to make ends meet, I'm sure I've bought myself some freedom. So yes I dislike having to worry about making ends meet if that's what you are saying.

2) Freedom to do things that I want. If I wanted to eat at a nice restaurant, or go on a trip to an exotic locale, or heaven forbid buy a nice car, a nice house or any other luxary (such as the complete Star Trek collection), if I had money I would have the freedom to choose what I wanted to do or have. If I had no money (er wealth), I wouldn't be able to choose in such a way as my options would be limited, just as they are right now as a poor student. And so yes, I dislike having my choices severely limited because I can't afford to do many things if that's what you meant.

[Facetious]

As for your interpretation, you are incorrect. It seems like you're making me out to be some lazy ass who wants to use wealth to make me do nothing in life. I honestly don't know where you get that from (perhaps you're confusing me with the guy who said that having money means he could hire a cleaning person to clean his house because he hates cleaning).

If I had the money, I would much rather pay someone to clean my house than have a nice car, that was my point, not that I want to do nothing in life. That told, if I had enough money to sustain myself for the rest of my life, you would never see me work a day selling my soul to some company I don't believe in, but I would definitely use a large portion of the newfound 40 hours a week to do something good for somebody. Still, though, I would much rather sit around and do literally nothing than do something ridiculously tedious and dull, if that means I want to do nothing in life, great.

[Ephemeral]

As for your interpretation, you are incorrect. It seems like you're making me out to be some lazy ass who wants to use wealth to make me do nothing in life. I honestly don't know where you get that from (perhaps you're confusing me with the guy who said that having money means he could hire a cleaning person to clean his house because he hates cleaning). I wasn't born with money and as such I will be working very hard to make my money. Nor do I mind doing a lot of things, I just believe that having a lot of money will enable you to do more things that you could if you didn't have that much money.

What I was trying to say is exactly what I said. Having a lot of money (or being wealthy if you may) allows for freedom in life (freedom I'm sure you know can mean a lot of things, and for this discussion I will use the word 'freedom' in the 'freedom 55' commercial type of way if you catch my drift, otherwise you can try your best interpretation at what I mean):

Sorry my bad, I thought you would recognize my parody of the Groucho Marx quote, "Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy."
I was actually trying to poke a little fun at myself and my posts about the use of the words 'money' and 'capital'. Guess I missed the marx.