And no society in the history of humankind has tolerated substantial portions of its citizens living on unearned income for more than half their lives. Such indulgence is quite difficult to support.
Then there is the relationship between work and money. For all of human history, there has been a necessary tie between work, i.e., the material contribution to the welfare of the social unit, and that community's access to goods and services. Yet that may be changing. Tasks that were formerly the province of man and muscle are now performed by powerful, dedicated machines ranging from huge cranes to highly developed nanotechnology that could become more sophisticated in the future. It seems our notions of earning and contributing are mutating. Will we be able to maintain the connections between work and money?
Of course, the "work" model has always been flawed if you take into account that there are some who are incompetent, incapable and inept. Communities based on natural resources, agriculture, fishing and mining have made up for this by sharing locally. But monetizing philanthropy and expanding government has had huge, largely unexplored implications.
Finally, what's wrong with money is that it is subject to human foible. It is no accident that money appears so much in the Bible.
This just scratches the surface of money's problems. For seven billion people attempting to survive on a vulnerable globe, money begs for exploration and discovery. It is a miracle of cosmic proportions. Still, as Ralph Waldo Emerson once poignantly observed: "Money often costs too much."
Richard B. Wagner, JD, CFP, is the principal of WorthLiving LLC, based in Denver. He is the 2003 recipient of the Financial Planning Association's P. Kemp Fain Jr. Award, which recognizes a member who has made outstanding contributions to the profession.