What if we have been looking at money the wrong way? What if it were not a commodity to be gathered, but simply a means -- a series of numbers -- that we use to reflect our common value system? We pay more for an hour of a brain surgeon's time than we pay for the plumber's time because we as a community value the work of the brain surgeon more than the work of the plumber. (I am not saying what we SHOULD value, just that we DO value it this way. One could certainly make the case that the plumber's abilities contribute more to a greater number than the brain surgeon's...but I digress...)

If we saw money only as a snapshot of our value system, then every price setting would become revelation of our convictions as a group. And instead of striving to gain money, as though it were a commodity in itself (currency traders notwithstanding), focus would be shifted to how one can EARN A LIVING. The only use for money is to trade for other things, and the only way to gain the power to trade is to have something to offer (a trade, a skill, an ability). We like to think that people can do whatever they like, and that they should be able to live the way they would like to live. But what if we were to think that one needs to earn a living again?