T/F
Money certainly engenders a lot of greed (greed for money), which causes problems, such as profiteering corporations taking advantage of people, buying the government, ruining the environment, and torturing animals, but there are many evils that have nothing to do with money.
Also, money has created civilization as we know it; without it we'd probably still be cavemen, but this is both a blessing and a curse. It *seems* like it makes life better, but consider these three points:
1) There's no reason to believe we're actually overall happier now than we were 20,000 years ago. Like the spice, what civilization gives with one hand it takes away with a thousand others. The conveniences are palpable while the deleterious effects are more subtle and sneak up on you, robbing you of life. l Take this excerpt from http://www.cracked.com/article_19864_6-ridiculous-lies-you-believe-about-founding-america_p2.html: 'Settlers defecting to join native society was so common that it became a major issue for colonial leaders -- think the modern immigration debate, except with all the white people risking their lives to get out of American society. According to Loewen, "Europeans were always trying to stop the outflow. Hernando De Soto had to post guards to keep his men and women from defecting to Native societies." Pilgrims were so scared of Indian influence that they outlawed the wearing of long hair.' ... 'Ben Franklin noted that, "No European who has tasted Savage Life can afterwards bear to live in our societies."'
2) The stronger the economy, the more quickly we pollute, trash, and deplete the environment. We're killing off species faster than any other extinction rate in Earth's history. Over 80% of the world's natural forests have already been destroyed, and we haven't stopped yet. All odds are on humans not stopping any of this until it's clearly too late. That's just human nature, and that's what the trends apparently portend.
3) Civilization is allowing the human species to grow in population unchecked. Eventually it will surpass the earth's ability to support us all, and many people will die. This might not even happen as a function of sheer numbers, we're also fundamentally dependent a constantly increasing stream of oil, which is a non-renewable resource, and once it runs out billions of people will starve.
Also, not to mention, again, animal torture in factory farming, which is the result of civilization as we know it and capitalism, which were made possible by money. People don't usually list this as a major world problem, but I think it is. 1. Suffering is what makes something a problem in the first place, 2. Animal suffering isn't unimportant just because it's not human suffering, and 3. The scale of numbers at which animals suffer in misery (for their whole lives) is *massive*.
Also, people eat less healthily in modern society (which again, was facilitated by money), and I have a hunch that how you eat greatly affects how you feel physically, and how you feel physically (which goes beyond what just seems physical, such as being energetic, up-beat, vibrant, etc.) greatly affects your overall level of happiness in life.