Nicole: I met the most amazing guy today.
Laura: Really? What's he like?
Nicole: Well, he's smart, funny, romantic, sweet, caring, but...
Laura: But what?
Nicole: Well, he doesn't have a job. I mean, he has things he's passionate about, but refuses to sacrifice those passions for what he calls a "valueless price". I mean, I'm really attracted to him, and he's got all the qualities I look for in a guy, but I don't know.
Laura: Are you serious?! Girl, you can do better than that!
So what exactly went on in this little scenario? Well, apparently Nicole's met a guy that she's extremely attracted to, who has all the qualities that she looks for in a potential boyfriend. Now, in most cases, I'm sure this conversation might be a little bit different, but from my experiences in the dating world, this scenario isn't too far from being accurate.
It seems that, all too often, people have a tendency to just accept something at face value, never once questioning whether or not something might not be what it seems, and this is unfortunately true when it comes to money. My refusal to sacrifice my passions for monetary "gain" stems from my refusal to simply accept things at face value. I have a personality that is far too curious to just accept that 8 dollars per hour is actually worth something, and that curiosity has proven to me that it isn't worth anything. The American economy, the thing which many Americans base their entire lives off of, will soon sputter out into complete failure.
Let's take another look at the scenario again. The guy Nicole has met is smart/intelligent, funny, romantic, sweet and caring, which are traits that I assume most women look for in a man. However, there's the small issue that the guy happens to lack employment, although he does have things that he's passionate about. I'm assuming the guy's an artist of some sort, maybe a musician or a writer, and since I can relate to this fictitious event, I'll just refer to the guy as myself. According to Nicole, I said that I don't see the point in sacrificing my passions for a "valueless price".
What exactly did I mean by a "valueless price"? Surely I couldn't have been referring to sacrificing my passions without payment for them? No. What I meant by a "valueless price" is sacrificing my passions for payment in the form of money.
To understand why I, or anyone, would refuse to make money from their passions, we have to look at the purchasing power of the US dollar. In 1774, the purchasing power of our current dollar bill would be equivalent to around that of 4 cents in 1774, placing the dollar between worthless, and next to worthless. (Note: exact equivalent would be $0.035833)
To be optimistic, let's assume that the purchasing power of our current dollar is roughly the same as it was in 2010, about 4 cents, and you have a job in which you earn $30 per hour. A $30 per hour job sounds great, right? The purchasing power of our current $30 would be roughly $1.08 cents in 1774. So, in terms of purchasing power, you're really only making a little over $1 per hour.
As you can see, the purchasing power of the dollar is steadily decreasing. In fact, since 1774, the purchasing power of the dollar one year has never risen from what it was the year before. Now, the US dollar is relatively valueless compared to what it has been in the past. Yes, you can still buy things with money, but as I'm sure many of you have noticed, prices rise every year, making you need more money to buy those things that you'd like to have, and for the things that you need, such as food, clothing, shelter and clean water.
It won't take long until even the richest people of this country will not be able to afford the luxuries they so desperately desire, and the least prosperous among us will no longer be able to afford the basic necessities of food, water, shelter and clothing. There is nothing we can do to stop the eventual, imminent downfall of the American economy, and the sooner we can accept this, the sooner we will realize those things in life which are truly important. Things such as love and romance; family and friendship; these are things which cannot be bought, nor sold. Unfortunately, we live in a society in which without money, you cannot afford that which costs nothing.
To end, I'd like to rip-off of the song "War", by I forget who did it.
*sings* Money? What is it good for? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
