Francisco's Money Speech
Unfortunately, this entire article was written based on a concept that was misquoted and taken out of context. The purpose of this article is to rebuke the famous saying that money is the route of all evil. However, that is not actually what was said. This concept comes from a verse in the Bible: 1 Timothy 6:10. This verse says “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” It was never said that money was the root of all evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil.
While the author does bring up this different wording about half way through the article, he continues to write with the tone that is attempting to discount that “money is the root of all evil” (Rand, A. pp.1). I am a business major. I intend to start my own business and I very much hope that I can eventually be profitable and make money off of my business. This thinking, according to the Bible, is not wrong. Money is NOT the root of all evil. However, I do not see the money as mine. I see the money as a gift from the Lord and so I hold it with open hands so that HE may do whatever He wants with it. For a lot of Christians, this means giving money to churches, missions, and those less fortunate than them. Christians spend their money in this way because they see it is a gift from God and not something to be grasped OR LOVED, but given back to the Lord for His purpose.
Money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. (Rand, A. pp. 1)
This is ultimately where a Christian’s mindset on money differs from the world's mindset on money. The world sees money as their protection, and this is why they are white-knuckled holding on to it for dear life, aka love. The world is desperate to grip onto their money and use it the way they want to because they have “earned it”. For a Christian, faith is put in God for protection, and they know that any wealth, money, or goodness that comes to them is a gift from God and it is as simple as a form of currency. It is not as deep as the world sees it. Christians find protection in something much more trustworthy than money, so when money does come, it does not feel like something that needs to be grasped or loved.
The Money Confusion
...money is abundant where there are goods to be exchanged, and scarce where there’s little of market worth. (Tamny,J. pp. 33)
This quote along with an idea discussed quickly after that “money is simply an agreement about value” simplify these ideas a lot. Speaking about the war that left Germany in indescribable conditions, these ideas put the economic conditions in simple terms. Since there was such heavy devastation in Germany post-war, there was little exchange of goods happening which meant that there was scarcity of money.
It is interesting to look at the state of an economy post war and really break down the way the economy balanced itself, because naturally, it will always balance itself. It is also interesting to see how the government works to try and balance the economy by force by issuing food rations and other special accommodations. These things are so necessary at certain times such as post war or even a national pandemic such as the times we were living in in 2020. Rations help keep morale up and keep people afloat, but it is possible that this also enables people to not work. This was a controversial conversation that happened in 2020 when the stimulus checks were sent out. The very name tells the intention of the checks. To stimulate the economy. This particularly worked. However, the United States is in such deep debt that a lot of people were concerned with this decision to give handouts. I wonder how this was similar or different to society's reaction to the food rations in Germany post-war.
Then we get into the discussion of the value of money. We talk about what actually makes money valuable. Used to be, it was actually valuable because money was backed by gold. Now has it changed? What makes different countries agree upon the value of their different currencies? Money simply facilitates the exchange of products and services. Is that the value that it holds, or does it hold true value such as the gold backing of bills?
Sources
Rand, A. (2020, April 13). "Francisco's money speech" by Ayn Rand. Capitalism Magazine. Retrieved February 24, 2023, from https://www.capitalismmagazine.com/2002/08/franciscos-money-speech/Links to an external site.
Tamny, J. (2022). Chapter 2: The Meaning of Stable Money. In The money confusion: How illiteracy about currencies and inflation sets the stage for the Crypto Revolution (pp. 29–41). essay, All Seasons Press.
Hello Avery. I like how you referenced the Bible in relation to Francisco’s Money Speech. However, I do not believe he was trying to take this concept out of context, but rather explain it in a way that provides a different perspective on how people use money that can be seen as evil. Money itself is not evil since it is just a value, but the people who use it can be turned to evil due to societal norms. We are so focused on getting money “to be happy,” but like the speech says, money does not buy happiness and will not provide us with a purpose if we do not know what we want in life. We think we have everything we need if we could just be rich, but money doesn’t supply us with other things in life such as a purpose and relationships. The quote you explained was a little out of context, but still relates with how the world views money.
The beginning of the quote says that those who wish to destroy men, aim for the money because that is what most people value in life. Not all people, however, believe that money is everything, and people do value money because they earned it from hard work. Those who steal from people, do not earn that money, but are known as the “destroyers” mentioned earlier. This is how money brings out the worst in people because we must fight to maintain our money, while others can easily just take it from us with no effort. I agree that Christian’s find other things in life more valuable than money, but in Francisco’s speech, he was trying to make a specific point that money is not the root of all evil.
I agree with what you say about the quote at the beginning of “The Money Confusion.”
Money is simply just an agreement about value and when there are goods of value to be exchanged, there is more money on hand to exchange because it is value for value. Your explanation of the war that Tamny discussed at the beginning of the chapter puts it in terms that are easily understandable. There were not many supplies left, and therefore there was not as much money to trade for other resources. Government is there in times of need to get the economy functioning again when it drops during times of trouble. I wish you would have mentioned some of the other points that he had mentioned in this chapter, but the other thing that you did mention was that there are certain factors that make money valuable. You said that money was valuable because it was backed by gold, but I believe that it is still held to some level of the same standard because we still all view money as the same value, at least here in the United States. Though it isn’t as strong as it used to be, money still has important value in the economy that we use to facilitate everyday exchanges amongst each other.
This post was easy to read and I completely understood your view points and opinions. I agree with your thought that money is not the route of all evil. I feel like many people blame money but in reality the issue is themselves. Some people just don't know how to deal with a large amount of money and that soon changes how they use to act.
I completely agree with the above quote. God gives us countless number of gifts and money is one of them. Some people tend to abuse this gift that God has given us. This specific gift God has given us is almost like a test on what we use our money for. Some use it to give back or help others, and some abuse the amount of money they have. Money can sometimes even take over people's lives and never change them back to the person they were before.
This quote is great at explaining what happens to people when things go crazy. If things start to change in the world, people tend to lose their minds. People can get lazy quick when they start to receive hand outs from others. I noticed nowadays that people will try anything to not have to work. The world is getting lazy and this is what causes the economy to shut down. It's sad that the US just wanted to help the people that are less fortunate but at the end of the day many people took that check for granted.
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