Money, Money, Money: Is the Illusion Over Yet?

Beaten to the brink of nihilism by the crushing global financial crisis and the shattered Fabergé egg of the American dream, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has had enough. This week, he turned what was supposed to be a routine report before the Senate Finance Committee into an ponderous existential rant about the intrinsic worthlessness of money. Then, as the other members of the Senate realized that he was in fact right -- that money was nothing but an illusion -- the economy screeched to a crashing halt.

This was all reported, of course, by The Onion, in one of the most dead-on pieces of satire I've ever seen: "U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion."

The point of the piece is to lampoon how much of our lives and society is based around transacting with transactions, moving decimals from one column to another, and basically interacting with representations of value, rather than pursuing real meaning and value itself. My favorite line:

"I've spent 25 years in this room yelling 'Buy, buy! Sell, sell!' and for what?" longtime trader Michael Palermo said. "All I've done is move arbitrary designations of wealth from one column to another, wasting my life chasing this unattainable hallucination of wealth...I'm going home to hug my daughter."

While the piece is a joke, it actually strikes pretty close to home.

Alongside the foreclosures and layoffs, another effect of the "Great Recession" has been a new spotlight on fundamental questions of meaning, happiness and success -- our understanding about which necessarily impact the goals that shape our economic activity.

These are not new questions. For as long as we've had capitalism, we've also faced questions about purpose and meaning, and whether the system inspires the best in us, or instead robs us of our real value.

What has changed this time around, however, is the plausibility of alternatives. The seismic disruption that the internet is having on how we access knowledge and education, how we connect and collaborate, how we create and distribute value -- and how we pursue our passions -- is upending 20th century notions of work.

I feel like I'm witnessing an entire generation live through the switch between two entirely different economic models. And the unquestioned supremacy of money as a unit of exchange, measure of status, etc., is in for a ride.

Don't get me wrong: I don't think money is going anywhere. But I think money as meaning is out, and hopefully for good.

To learn more, check out this absolute incredible Prezi about New Wealth in the New Economy, by Arthur Brock.