How Much is Too Much?
by Randy Gage
Take a look at that question in the headline again. Bet you’ve heard that more than a few times. But picture this…
Someone says, “Just look at that George! He has perfect health. High energy, no diseases, and he hasn’t even had a sniffle in months. Don’t you hate greedy people like that? Poor Elizabeth has the flu, and George is hogging all the health!”
You’d never say that about health. Or love. Or happiness. So why would you say it about money?
-RG
"I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects"
As long as you keep that oath then keep the money coming....You are only doing good by making it!!!!
Rodriguez,I think you think you are too smart for anything or anyone. But do you know that God says, you can have everything, in abundance, whether it's health or money. Everything, is EVERYTHING. You know why? So you can bless others.
If you are poor, broke, sick or lacking, how are you supposed to bless others? You can't! You gotta take care of yourself first and that starts by inviting God into your life, accepting Christ as your number one. Then, asking God what HIS will is for your life. I tell you this though, God will bless you, so you can bless others.
Having money & wealth can be used as a tool to help others.
I agree with almost everything you said here!
All these B.S. (belief system) I am reading may come from one meme - The Law Of Scarcity we were taught in economics. For the past four hundred years, virtually all practitioners of the dismal science we call economics have agreed on one basic premise: namely that a society's wealth is determined by its supply of physical resources--its land, labor, minerals, water, and so on. And underlying this premise has been another, even more profound, assumption--one supposedly so obvious that it is rarely mentioned: namely, that the entire world contains a limited amount of these physical resources.
This means, from an economic point of view, that life is what the mathematicians call a zero-sum game. After all, if there are only limited resources, one person's gain must be another person's loss; the richer one person is, the poorer his neighbors must be. Over the centuries, this view of the world has been responsible for innumerable wars, revolutions, political movements, government policies, business strategies, and possibly a religion or two.
We do not live in a resource-scarce environment. That may seem hard to believe, but the businessperson and the politician--as well as the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker--who
continue to behave as if they were operating in the old zero-sum world will soon find themselves eclipsed by those who recognize the new realities and react accordingly.
In the alchemic world in which we now live, a society's wealth is still a function of its physical resources, as traditional economics has long maintained. But unlike the outdated economist, the alchemist of today recognizes that technology controls both the definition and the supply of physical resources. In fact, for the past few decades, it has been the backlog of unimplemented technological advances, rather than unused physical resources, that has been the determinant of real growth.
Someone's been reading Pilzer!
Abundance is infinite.
Money is infinite. Health is infinite. Energy is infinite. The universe is infinite. Love is infinite. Ideas are infinite.
It is never too much. Prosperity is infinite.
Thanks for a very thought provoking post.
I am not yet wealthy, I took the" work hard, get a good education, get a good job" pill and have some work to do to dig out of the student debt hole, but here's my perception with wealth.
Paper assets are paper assets, they decrease in value as they're printed, but wealthy people buy things with inherent value. They trade it in for land, property and commodities of inherent value, and they spend the paper assets on things they enjoy in the moment (the cars, the fine restaurants, they skybox seats, etc), this makes sense to spend because the spending power is always decreasing when not invested elsewhere in wealth building assets. Most people earn a dollar, spend $1.25, and lean on others to make up the difference when their bill finally comes due.
Now you can take the lottery ticket approach and make your money vanish, or you can take a different approach. Many wealthy families have vast art collections or antique collections, they'll hold a % in metals, some invest in fine wines or classic cars. They also hold value in equities/brands/stocks that then create more income for them. Their paper assets have now turned into longlasting value in the equity they create and the credit opportunities they create (home equity lines of credit, etc) which then can be used to fund and leverage further sources of income and equity or add to everyday enjoyment of your life.
To question whether health, love, money, happiness, or anything for that matter, is finite is in my opinion a way to express a frustration that lies within. The ability or need to question it is the human mind getting in the way. In other words, stop worrying about it and the balance will find itself without you getting in the way.
Frank, how many Boeing 747's where there on planet earth when dinosaurs roamed the earth?
If you you answered "zero", well, where did they came from then?
All the materials have already been around us for ever. Mankind just needed the cumulative ideas of making steel and alloys, electricity, plastics, etc. And of course the meme 'man cannot fly' had to be shattered by the Wright brothers.
Also, 300 years ago, the elite's standards of living was lower than John Doe who lives on well fare today. Think a house with windows, electricity, phone, internet. Think health care and community services like police, fire department, public transportation etc.
We've been able to raise standards of living for everybody. It's and-and, not either-or:
Let's say I have fruit trees and vegetables in my garden and have more than I need for myself. And let's say you a great teacher and are free in the weekends.
Now we can trade: I provide your family fresh fruits and vegetables, and in exchange you tutor my kids in the weekends.
My guess is that you consider fruit, vegetables and tutors to be finite. But in my example, both our livestyles go up, without depleting any resource.
By saying "If one hoards more of the Earth’s finite resources than he needs, others’ needs are left unfulfilled.", you imply that there is EXACTLY enough for everybody.
If I "hoard" 100 cans of tuna - in stead of just the two I'm going to eat for dinner, how do you know someone is dying of hunger?
If I "hoard" 25 suits - in stead of just 1, how do you know someone else is walking the streets naked?
If I have two cars, one for the family and one sports car for fun, how do you know some is car-less?
- Robert
Wow I've missed a lot here! Isn't the whole point of studying prosperity that we are learning to create our own reality?
I'm choosing to create the reality where there is unlimited money, health and good stuff for everyone. If you focus on the limitation it will show up for you. That's more or less what I've learned and I'm finding it to be true for me!
Just last night my husband and I were at the store. As we were getting our items scanned we were chatting with the clerk and somehow we got to singing a little of "I want to be a billionaire"... the clerk laughed with us and said, "Yeah, right! But with lots of money comes lots of problems!" She obviously decided that we'd agree with that and somehow that would make it alright to continue living a lack oriented life. We countered with, "with a lot of money, you pay people to deal with many of the "perceived" problems. You jet off somewhere and enjoy your life. You drive the car of your dreams. You live in the house that you love and you have more then enough to deal with anything that comes your way."
It was so obvious that thoughts like this had never occurred to the young lady. At one time in our lives, they hadn't occurred to us either.
So glad we attracted mentors like Randy and many others into our lives to help us let go of these societal mind viruses!!!
Tiffany
Money talks .
We can do lots of lovely things with money that can't be done without it, I think some people are against it because they need to make changes in themselves in order to attract money and it's kind of scary for them.
I love the way you do these kind of challenging thinking.
Good luck
There are a finite amount of resources on planet Earth.
The world population is heading towards 9 billion.
If one hoards more of the Earth's finite resources than he needs, others' needs are left unfulfilled.
Only those with 'more than enough' wealth are able to hoard more finite resources than they need.
In a dog-eat-dog world, where hoarding more finite resources than you need is considered 'success,' you end up with a world of a few fat dogs, and lots and lots of dead and wounded dogs.
Our Joe from above is unable to hoard his health, or love - those are already his and his alone. However, if Joe hoarded more 'health credits' and 'love credits' than he needed, thereby depriving his neighbors of health and love, I think his neighbors would be pretty damn pissed off at Joe...
It's totally bizarre. I think it's somehow jealousy and envy combined. Cos the person thinks if he can't have it then you can't have it. Which is so not right.
Ok, money is an exchange tool for something you value. Let's say for energy. And energy is becoming in short supply isn't it? Wrong, it isn't. Just the way we think about it. Did you know that to equal the energy consumption to the amount of energy the sun dumps on our little blue happy lump of matter we have to use per person the equivalent of 1.5 small scale nuclear plants? And that is just on our planet. The vast majority of the energy the sun generates (generates?! What happened to E=MC2) dispersed into space. And how many other planets do the same? So there is NO shortage of energy at all, just a problem with our thinking about it. So maybe the value of energy (and thus the money we pay for it) is zilch since it is in such abundant supply. Hey, what about our thoughts?! Aren't they a form of energy? So yes, it is all in our minds and our minds are capable of anything.
Unfortunately, our minds are trained in scarcity thinking. And thus, we think that earning a lot is taking away from others when there is absolutely no need for that.
Hi Randy,
Very good point. I never looked at this idea in this way before. I do know people who are in poor health who are jealous of others in good health and wonder what they've done to deserve their situation. But they certainly don't think that the healthy individual is being greedy.
I just started your Midas Mentality program and have read the Prosperity Series. I am discovering lots of new ways of thinking. I also discovered a victim (damsel in distress) mindset that I was completely unaware of previously.
Thanks for sharing!
Ellen
Wow! Randy, I know that you want us to be critique thinkers and all that... but this time I do not have nothing but to agree and smile for the great and simple way you put something like this!!!
I love it... We recognize the "success" of someone who achieve good health, but blame someone who achieve wealth.
Thank you.
and the passions and motivation can give us energy that needs for health building. I would like to say I just remember the pain of poverty when I cannot afford to buy vitamins and foods, it sucks!. I don't really want it anyway. When I have money for myself, and give a tremendous amount of effort to create paintings, do better in a job, not supplying my mind of infectious negative meme about money, from within, my health recovered. after a year, my mother said to me, you are looking healthy..
@Bones The labor of love starts from within. When you are passionate about doing something you give your work your life energy. Its like a farmer sowing a seed. He is just not throwing it. There is an expectation within for the crop to grow and produce fruit. And this expectation within him motivates him to take care of the crop at all stages of growth. Money is not a paper that is printed and kept outside for you to go and grab it. It is something that you bring forth to yourself through the passion within you. :)
We are not talking about labors of love, we are not talking about passion- we are talking about whether or not money and health are the same thing.
I understand that IN THEORY, you do something with love and passion, it creates something great, and then the world is better off, and then IF you get around to charging for it for some reason, THEN you make money- I get that.
If you never charge for it, you never make a dime, even though you may love it and the world is better off, and you have increased the "wealth" of the world- if you don't say "You now owe me", you never make a dime.
Brother Bones, I appreciate your sincerity, your vitality and passion for life. Might be you are looking for a change of pace and place. Travel or getaway will be a good idea. Fill yourself up to fullness so you can overflow.
Juicy topic Randy! It sure does get a response from people. And W David C - fantastic comments! People infected with the meme about hogging money lose and squander their wealth courtesy of the law of attraction, which draws two types of people together - one that doesn't believe they deserve the money that they have and another one that believes that they deserve MORE than they have. If we generate wealth by the ideas in our mind and other people create wealth by the ideas in their minds, we cannot possibly be taking the wealth of others away when we attract and accumulate more for ourselves.
Great post/thought Randy,
It seems like to me that some are either to focused on arguing for the sake of arguing or caught up in the symantics of money vs. wealth, really we need to make a distinction between the two? Would it have been any different if it had been phrased- Can you ever have to much wealth?
As to the "percieved value" point of view I know this to be another false distinction, the land+building being worth more is not percieved value it is real value. Why? Because of two things
1- Some one is willing to pay more for the developed land than the cost of the land plus the cost of the materials to build therefore it is not perceived value it is true value. The buyer says "Yep that's what it is worth" not well I perceive it to have this or that value.
2- The cost is not simply a matter of x+y=z, rather x+y+(knowledge to make it work+labor+time+++)=Z- Doubt wealth grows from nearly nothing? Think silca sand circa 1947 vs. that same sand used in a microchip today. It's perceived value did not change. It is its true value that changed.
If it is true value and not perceived value then why does it change in a Boom or a recession?. If it was true value then surely it would never change?
If someone builds 10 more hotels next door and they all go up for sale at the same time the buyers will perceive them all to be worth less and will make an offer dependent on their perception of what it is worth to them. The first hotel is the same but the price will be reduced.
To know somethings value it always has to be compared to something else. Even a fake story in the local news about toxic waste on the site could drop the price.
Exactly- perfect example.
Thanks for the discussion Bones. It is fun to think about and clarify all of these points. You bring up very important questions that make understanding money much easier.
I wasn't as clear in my own head about all this till you brought up the questions.
Nothing beats a good, fun debate when we are all looking for better solutions. Especially when the subject is money :)
I agree- I'm here to learn, so when something doesn't feel right to me, I want to clarify and ask, question, and re-ask until it does.
I think I'm seen as argumentative (maybe I am), but it's from a sincere desire to learn.
"If two people agree on everything, one of them isn't necessary"
Well, that goes for an entire forum too!
Russ- I agree with you- using the term wealth might be better- it's not semantics at all; it's really being clear with our communication, and I'm not arguing- I am asking how they are the same.
1- You say "someone", but there may be no one, and then it is valueless. If no one values that developed land, then it's worth ZERO. There's no such thing as inherent value (expect for maybe people)
2- No- a microchip is USELESS unless someone wants it. Ask someone in the middle of that same desert whether or not they'd rather have a the newest microchip or a glass of clean water- you'll see perceived value instantly.
When my friend pays $400k cash for an AMG Benz, I know people are asking: "Does he really need a car that expensive?". The answer of course is no, he doesn't NEED it. My only question is: "When are we going for a spin?". Randy's point is so clear and succinct, a perfect analogy, yet people have allowed themselves to self-limit and make excuses as to why we're not supposed to be prosperous. Which is exactly why they aren't. Thanks Randy for the insight and clarity, once again.
Greg
How Much is Too Much?
When It comes to money...
Its never Too Much.
James D.
Wow, that one got me, I liked how you worded it and it is so true!!
I guess this also leads to the question:
"Is greed for anything, good or bad?"
Lets start with looking it up in the dictionary:
Greed: intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power or food
What's bad about that? Nothing i'd say. Isn't it great to have 'intense desires'? Not to me. I like them... they make me feel alive.
"But what about 'selfish'?", some people will probably say. "Isn't that bad?"
Seems that the word "selfish" (again) plays a major role here (this great blog/world). Lets look that up:
Selfish: concerned above all with one's own profit or pleasure.
I hope everybody agrees that 'Being concerned about one's profit and pleasure' is a great thing. (Except when you believe the "profit is bad" or "pleasure is for the devil" meme. Who put these in our collective brains? Maybe some (selfish?) institution that wanted it (profit and pleasure) all for themselfs for centuries? )
So what about the "above all" part? Imho 'Above all' doesnt exclude something. It just tells what comes 'first'. And here we are back again to Ayn Rand's philosophy.
And Jesus' philosophy too? "love your neighbour like you love yourself"? Doesnt that also mean that you first have to love yourself, before you can love others? So 'above all', you have to love yourself.
It kinda all revolves around the meaning you give to (and how you feel about) a few words and concepts: selfish, profit, pleasure, above all... and money of course. But arent those meanings meme's in itself too? Have we ever questioned our meanings/feelings of words? I think we should. Accepting that the same word can mean different things to other people can prevent some fights and wars.
Lets all get 'brainwashed' from those infectious mind meme's and start communicating with feelings!
I just realised that I didnt address the "Is having a desire for money different from having a desire for love, health...?"-question yet.
Anyway... these were my thoughts about greed ;-)
What is money? Money is used to exchange value. Money is perceived value. The dictionary about 'Value:' the importance or preciousness of something. So a rich person would have more 'value' than a poor one. That would make him or her more important or precious? Off course not. So its clearly our perception of value and the 'value' of money that can create an issue.
Here is the imbalance that leads to much confusion: Someone is not a more 'valuable' person because he or she has more money. If you feel /think that a person with more money than you is more 'valuable' than you, it is logical you resent (and fight) that. This is a dangerous meme. We all are created equal, so we all have the same 'value'. I think too much 'value' is being given to money. Nothing has more value. All is equal: energy in an infinite field. Its all about experience and perception. Value is just a tag, but given too much emphasis can create imbalance in people and societies.
It's all made up of the same energy that is all around us.
Hey... am I ranting here?! :-)
Guess the big question is: why are we here? next post? ;-)
Eric from The Netherlands
a little too much is just right for me.
Awesome analogy!
There's more than enough...
Hi mr Randy G.Xubava tema,kakto vinagi,vie ste dobar trenior.Mislia ,che zdraveto i parite sa svarzani.Zdraveto e v osnovata na stastie ,obich,lubov...Parite iskat risk,naxodchivost,darzost,a tova saotvetstva samo pri zdravi xora,no ne izkluchvam i kasmeta.Niakoi kazvat niama kasmet,ima mnogo trud.Ama poniakoga mnogo se trudish i nisto ne se poluchava.Kakvo mislite za roliata na kasmeta.Kakvo e kasmet-dobro mislene ili....no sam sigyrna che v vsichko stoi zdraveto...
Greed is neutral baby you can be greedy for the positive or greedy for the negative. I choose the positive!
The Cure - It's Never Enough :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5enlLwo94M
However much I push it down
It's never enough
However much I push it around
It's never enough
However much I make it out
It's never enough
Never enough
However much I do
However big I ever feel
It's never enough
Whatever I do to make it real
It's never enough
In any way I try to speak
It's never enough
Never enough
However much I try to speak
It's never enough
However much I'm falling down
It's never enough
However much I'm falling out
It's never enough
Whatever smile I smile the most
It's never enough
Never enough
However I smile
I smile the most
So let me hold it up
Just one more go
Holding it up for just once more
One more time to fill it up
One more time to kill
But whatever I do
It's never enough
It's never enough
It's never enough
As Bob Proctor would say "When the source is infinite no one can take more than their share". The source is infinite. Whoever understands it gets whatever they want and they are fair enough to tell everyone that the source is infinite. Those who don't understand it doesn't care to receive whats on offer.
But does this square with reality? It makes a great speech from stage, but is it reality?
Look at what needs to be done. Shouldn't hold back from direct experience. Set your total concentration at the task at hand. Be practical and innovative. Test and refine your ideas of the value that you want to deliver. You deliver value when you do something with a lot of passion. It's something that starts from within.
It can be painting too. Consider that :)
A painting is a perfect example of infinite wealth. The Mona Lisa was once a blank canvass and a vision. Now it is probably worth hundreds of millions. All based on perceived value. It is still just a canvass with some paint but because so many value the painting it could be traded for almost anything.
Wealth is just perceived value of what we have to trade. So it is infinite and can not stop anyone else from having what they want. Because they can create something with an idea that can be worth huge wealth.
Um..... the question is not "Is wealth infinite?"- that's what you are answering, but- no one asked that.
The question is why would you equate money and health....
Someone CANNOT take someone's health.
You CAN take someone's money.
Every time you increase your own money supply (printing money excluded), it is taking from someone else's.
That's what it is designed to do.
Yes, I buy a book, and I give $10 for that- I understand that I perceive that I have traded fairly perceived value for perceived value, but my MONEY is decreased.
So- the painting has increased the VALUE of the canvas, and has increased the enjoyment of it for people everywhere, but it has NOT increased the money for it- it is TRADED for something else.
Bones,
Robert asked how does getting a loan make money infinite? So I was answering that.
If by taking money from another you are talking about stealing or corruption then it can be equated to health very easily. I could poison you or cut your leg off and therefore take your health. Same as I could steal your money.
If you are talking about fair, unforced exchange then your money/ wealth has not decreased only your IOU's/ currency. But you actually have more money (money is actually anything that can be traded, not the notes) because you have traded something you value less for something you value more. At that point you valued the $10 less than you valued the Book. So your wealth has been increased by doing the trade.
It is like you traded with me 2 of your chickens for 8 of my fish. You would only trade the chickens if you felt you were better off with the fish than with the chickens. It is just that instead of carrying around the chickens you carry around a note that represents the chickens in a safe location. That note tells me I can pick up the chickens anytime I want or else trade the IOU for something else at a market (e,g a coat). Then the person I give your IOU to can go and get the chickens whenever he wants or trade it for something else.
Currency which we get confused with money is an IOU that has 'I promise to pay the bearer on demand' written on it. That means you promise to pay me with your chickens when I hand in the IOU at a later date. Wealth is the stuff we have that can be traded. The IOUs are only worth what the person thinks the stuff you have is worth. All perceived value.
Paper currency was just created to make trade easier but has no value in and of itself. It is just worthless paper unless it is backed by something. So the more we have to back up the value the more IOUs we will have to trade.
So we create our own health and in the same way we can create our own tradable products and services. Health and wealth come from ideas and action not from taking from others.
Yes, you CAN take someone's health by feeding them poison or injuring them or destroying their environment.
No- if you poison me, it decreases my health, but does NOT increase yours as a result.
No- In the fish and chicken example, the trade is supposed to be EQUAL- just as I am valuing one more than the other, so are you- the trade is EQUAL That is what money is for- an EXCHANGE.
Yes, I understand that currency and money are just ideas and pieces of paper that represent IOUs.
Good point Bones,
So a better example regarding health would be that I kidnap you and steal your heart to transplant it into my body because yours is healthier.
In the trading the chickens and fish example of course I would not trade with you if I did not feel that I was better off with your chickens than my fish. We both have to feel we win or we would not trade.
Also on the inflation point you made earlier, printing more money decreasing the value of all money is the same as saying that every time your chickens lay an egg and more chickens grow it devalues all other chickens. Supply and demand.
But the number of available chickens will have increased so all buyers of chickens are better off.
Randy Wrote
You’d never say that about health. Or love. Or happiness. So why would you say it about money?
He didn't say 'So why would you say that about currency/ IOU's'
Currency/ notes are only potential money until converted into real money (products and services). The amount of money we have is the amount of products and services we have not the amount of notes we have.
Why the comparison between health and money seems difficult is because we think the notes and 0's are money which is a major misperception. They are just potential money until exchanged for something.
Hahaha- WAIT A MINUTE!!
Ok, if you kidnap me and take my heart, then I would DEFINITELY say that I have less health because YOU have been greedy and taken it! LOL!! That's my point!
ALL I've been saying this whole time is that You CAN take someone's money, leave them with less, and then be called greedy, say "That's too much".
Randy said you wouldn't say that about health.
However, YOU have found the time when someone could- if they steal your heart!
So, I am saying that YES- someone would call stealing another's heart as greedy!
Got me?
Your question was
"why would you equate money and health…."
The new example I gave was based on the idea of Corruption and Stealing. You said that
"someone cannot take someone else's health but you can take someone else's money"
It was an example to show that it could be done the same way with health as in money.
I can take your health and decrease it to improve my health. As I could take your money and decrease it to improve my own wealth. But people only talk about these things when it relates to money.
If we are talking about about fair exchange in a Capitalist economy then you can diminish 8 of my fish but I will have gained 2 of your chickens which I value more. So by trading with me you have increased my wealth and increased yours because we both get something we value more than what we already had.
So to increase my wealth I have increased your wealth, otherwise you wouldn't trade with me. In our current economy instead of diminishing your chickens I have diminished your notes/IOUs (potential money) that represent your chickens (real money). But now you have fish instead so you are better off, not worse off, by giving me your money. You could even now create notes to represent the fish. So for me to get more than I have, I need to give you more than you have.
So Randy, I assume, was making the point that people will not look at someone with perfect health and say that is too much health but they would say that is too much wealth. In reality they are the same which was the point of the post.
Health can be stolen and wealth can be stolen so the comparison needs to be the same with both. If we won't say it about health then we shouldn't say it about wealth.
I hope this now makes sense as to how Randy was able to equate money with health.
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