Why Money Does Not Run Your Household
Updated: Mar 7, 2022
It is your contribution to society that runs your household. Your contribution is merely measured in money. Money is just a decentralized record or ledger of it. Read this one if you don't know what I mean.
When you do something for someone, he can say you did, say, 5 hours of work for him. But 5 hours of work can equate to different values for different jobs. Thus, instead of every beneficiary's reporting everything someone did for him, money is used as a standard unit. It solves the same problem we encounter when we talk about real vs nominal GDP. We can report total production as -
x units of a
y units of b
and so on. Or we can translate the current value of every item into a unit that is divisible and consistent. This unit is money. When you do something for someone, the value of your contribution is measured in money. When someone else does something for you, you give him a record of what he did for you: the monetary equivalent of the value he provided you. In simple words, money you earn represents the value of your contribution to society, and money you spend represents the value of what others do for you. Your income is a record or a measure of what you do for others. Your expense is the same of what others do for you. A man who gives more than he takes always has a positive balance and vice-versa.
Thus, your household runs on your contribution to society, not on money. Money simply measures that contribution. Don't confuse the quantity with its unit. To say that money runs your household is like saying your car runs on liters.
Note: to keep my point simple, I assumed real money. Things have gone crazy today because the currencies we use today are not exactly money. They are not consistent; they can be printed and given out to parties that governments collude with. This, however, is bound to destroy them spiritually by corrupting them and others economically by devaluing their savings.