Tango is not only a fascinating dance but also a fascinating philosophy, culture and lifestyle. The search of tango is the search of connection, love, fellowship, unity, harmony and beauty, i.e., an idealism that is not consistent with the dehumanizing reality of the modern world. The world divides us into individuals, but tango unites us into a team, community and species. In tango we are not individualists, feminists, nationalists, Democrats, Republicans, etc., but interconnected and interdependent members of the human family. Tango calls us to tear down the walls, to build bridges, and to regain humanity through affinity, altruism, cooperation, and accommodation. It is a dance that teaches the world to love.



June 18, 2016

Mammonism


In the beginning there is no money, people barter. I fish, you farm, she weaves fabric. We each uses our own product to exchange for other’s products. As this becomes a common practice, issues of fair trade arise and exchange ratios between various products are gradually established. For example, one foot of cloth equals two pounds of fish or three pounds of wheat - based on the amount of labor involved in producing these products. But such direct barter is inconvenient. You may want my fish, but I do not want your wheat but her cloth, and she wants your wheat, not my fish. How can we do the transactions? Thus, money as a medium of exchange comes in handy. With money, trade becomes easier.

Initially money is things that people all desire, such as cattle and salt. People first convert their products into such commonly desired goods, then use these commonly desired goods to exchange for other products. A pound of salt can be exchanged for a foot of cloth or two pounds of fish, since the average labor employed in producing these quantities of product is equivalent. Precious metals such as gold and silver eventually become the most common form of money because these rare metals have high values, are easy to carry, and can be conveniently cut into pieces to accurately measure the values of other products.

But people soon discovered that this way of exchange is still cumbersome. Since money is only used to measure or represent the values of products, it doesn't have to be a materiel good. A piece of paper can do the same job and is much easier to carry. Thus money changes form from tangible goods to paper bills. It then becomes apparent that even paper money is unnecessary, as transactions can be done electronically. Thus money changes form again from paper bills to digital money - electronic numbers that are stored on computers or mobile devices. These electronic numbers now become the life ambition of the modern people.

In the beginning there is no accumulation of wealth because fish and wheat cannot be stored in large number for long. Trade is only for daily consumption. But with money that is changed. Money can be accumulated indefinitely and passed on to future generations. It can also be used to loan, invest and speculate to generate returns. With money I can buy wheat from you and sell it to her at a higher price, and buy textiles from her and sell them to you at a higher price to make profits. It is then discoved that I can even make money without producing or owning anything myself, just serving as a middleman or broker. Thus trade is no longer for daily consumption. It becomes the mere means of making money. More and more smart people shift from working in the real economy to working in the commerce and financial sectors, relying on trade (mercantilism) and financial services (finacialism) such as making loans, issuing bonds, selling financial derivatives, lending usury, etc., to generate high returns. A hollowed-out economy divorced from production hence emerges, transforming the real economy into a virtual economy. Some in this country even believe that the United States can maintain its hegemony simply by keeping the money-printing presses rolling. All these pose a potential threat to the nation because money itself cannot feed, clothe people or defeat the enemy. In crises of war, famine, decoupling, and foreign sanction, victory can only be won by a country's real production capacity rather than printed paper money.

Making money through trade is a tricky business. Strictly speaking there is no fair trade, or no profit can be made. One can only gain from someone else's loss. For example, the employer makes money by exploiting the employees whose labor generate greater values than the wages they are paid. Wall Street created dubious formulas and financial derivatives to make money at the expenses of ordinary investors and loanees. The insurance company takes advantage of people's sense of security. Since low risky people greatly outnumber high risky people, the insurance company can make money by selling an empty promise. Jealous of the insurance company, the drug company increases the price of their product 5000%, according to a recent report. Hospitals make their money in the same way. I went to a hospital for a small skin condition. They first sent me to a family doctor, who sent me to the lab to have the test down, and then sent me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist knew immediately it was eczema without the need to see the test result. The prescribed cream cost me $30 and the eczema was cured. But the hospital bill is $800, which is mostly paid for by the insurance. The insurance company shifts the cost to the clients by raising premiums and reducing coverages. Health insurance once covers everything, now you have to buy separate insurances for teeth, eyes, ears and drugs. House insurance once covers everything, now you have to buy separate insurances for fire, flood, tornado and earthquake.

This way, while the nation's physical wealth does not increase, some people can make a lot of money through unfair trade. This practice undermines the fundamental principle in trade. The essence of trade is the exchange of labor. A fair exchange reflects the equivalent amounts of labor involved in producing the products. Since the exchange ratios of all products are proportional, the increase in price of one product will trigger a chain reaction of inflation. As a result, houses, cars, groceries, utilities, services, all become more and more expensive, and the government has to raise taxes just to keep even if nothing else. The victims are the ordinary working people. In today's America, 63% of people are unable to pay a $500 surprise bill, but a small number of tycoons benefiting from this unfair system that they have created have accumulated tremendous wealth that reached astronomical figures.

Greed knows no limit and most crimes, caught or not caught, are motivated by money. Noble causes intended to benefit the public, such as education, medicine, and journalism, now become means of making money, and money respects no morality. Clever opportunists who found ingenious ways to take advantage of others become the winners. Honest working people become the losers. As a result, people have lost interest in production and confidence in fairness and honesty. A working man once could feed the whole family, not anymore because the prices become so outrageous that women also have to work in order to maintain the same standard of living. Feminists may call it women's rights and equal opportunities. In fact it is the enslavement of women. As a woman lamented, "More and more women work extremely hard to make money now. Society provides women with less and less security. Security used to mean a commitment, a clasped hand when cross the street, now it becomes the money in your pocket and a fully charged cell phone... We all yearn to marry a man, only to find ourselves turned into men."

When a society permits people to accumulate unlimited wealth, uses money to measure one's success, allows the rich to influence legislation and policymaking with their money, provides them with legal loopholes and preferential treatments, and treats them as model citizens, it is bound that people all want to get rich quickly, that corruption breeds and crimes grow, that inequality and injustice increase, that society becomes more and more divided and polarized, that natural resources are depleted and the environment destroyed, and that politicians become more and more hypocritical and shameless.

The profit-seeking nature of capital first stimulates the growth of an economy. It then leads to its ultimate corruption and decline. When a society makes profit rather than production its top priority, when its main components are no longer farmers and industrial workers but merchants, bankers, accountants and lawyers, when its GDP comes primarily from the trade, service and financial sectors rather than production, its failure is not far away. Mammonism is the cancer of the modern world, which dehumanizes us and turns us into slaves to money. When mankind invented money, nobody thought it would lead to the alienation of humanity. How to awaken mankind from this insanity is one of the most intractable problems facing modern philosophers, economists, sociologists, law makers, and politicians. (See America Is in Big Truoble.)