Recycling Money

A year ago I wrote a blog with this sketch of Scrooge McDuck lounging in a tub of gold pieces, and I like the sketch so much that I’ve decided to recycle it. I’m also going to recycle the topic which was “Money,” because there’s always lots to say about money and it’s something that should be recycled.

 Scrooge McDuck was said to have “one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents.” He didn’t recycle it; he simply basked in it. I don’t know that there are any multiplujillionaires around these days, but in Canada this year there are 2,291,000 millionaires and 57 billionaires. In the U.S. there are 24,480,000 millionaires and 788 billionaires.

What do these people do with all their money, we wonder. Well, some people do good things: Warren Buffet has given over 56 billion to a variety of causes, including universities, healthcare systems and scientific research institutes. Gordon and Betty Moore have donated over 6 billion to funding scientific research, biodiversity and environmental conservation. In Canada, Eric Peterson and his wife Christine Munck have spent decades and donated millions to projects like the Hakai Institute and various education and health care initiatives.

There are lots of examples of good work being funded by billionaires, but there are also stories about enormously rich people using their power in ways that undermine our democracy by leveraging their wealth to affect political outcomes. A recent example was in a story published in the Washington Post about a WhatsApp chat started by a group of New York billionaires who were attempting to use their influence to have student Pro-Palestine encampments at Columbia University removed in order to “change the narrative” in favour of Israel. Apparently they believed that their wealth gave them the power to prevent students from exercising their democratic right to peaceful protest and free speech. “Changing the narrative” is an expression that always concerns me as it is so often used to make something that is true seem to be untrue (or vice versa).

Money, like speech, should be free to circulate in ways that make our world a better place. The word “currency” comes from the Latin word “currere” which means “to run” or “to flow.” It can be a lively river that leads to great things.

However, I think a lot of wealthy people are like Scrooge McDuck; they enjoy monitoring their investments the way that McDuck enjoys wallowing in his gold coins. Their investments just lie there, serving as a powerful, static weapon.

But, of course, our investments don’t just lie there. They’re not only in our portfolios; they are fuelling other activities, some of which we might not like. I remember a long time ago a friend commenting that if you want to sleep at night you need to know where your investments are sleeping. Who does your money sleep with, and what progeny might ensue?

I know a few rich people for whom thrift is the highest value. I suppose they take pleasure in the discipline required to avoid spending money. A penny saved is a penny earned they say, and they save their earnings.

But I also know some rich people for whom generosity is the greatest value. One wealthy friend of mind loves to give – of herself and of her bank account. She serves on boards and advisory committees and volunteers with community groups. She gives to local and international charities, to street people and to homeless shelters, and to all of her friends. When she comes to visit she brings flowers, or vegetables from her garden, or goodies from a special bakery. I’m sure she looks after her investments, but I suspect they’re probably in social impact funds which have a goal of positive change.

My friend takes great joy in spending money on others and on herself.. She loves her expensive wardrobe, her lovely home and her new hybrid car. She keeps her currency flowing. Recycling it, you might say.

Recycling money in these ways is a good thing to do. Any kind of recycling is generally good. And so I’ll close now by recycling a few observations from my earlier blog about money.

In a poem called “Money,” the renowned British poet Philip Larkin wrote

I listen to money singing. It’s like looking down

From long French windows at a provincial town,

The slums, the canal, the churches ornate and mad

In the evening sun. It is intensely sad.

How much money do we need to be content? Some studies suggest that once we have enough money to cover our needs and a little more to satisfy some of our wants, the extra thousands don’t make a lot of difference.

In any case, much of what we really love doesn’t cost anything at all. I’m old enough to remember when Jo Stafford and the Ink Spots and Frank Sinatra and many others sang this song:

The moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and me
The flowers in spring
The robins that sing
The sunbeams that shine
They’re yours, and they’re mine
Love can come to everyone
The best things in life are free

The moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and me
The flowers in spring
The robins that sing
The sunbeams that shine
They’re yours, and they’re mine
And love can come to everyone
The best things in life are free

Those words still ring true to me.