Today, there is little question that we live in a world that is shaped by wealth, and by the inequality that it creates. Money is central to our political system, with candidates on both sides of the political spectrum promising to redistribute wealth to “the people,” though they vary in whom they propose to redistribute it from. Whether the culprit be coastal elites or big corporations, the problem is unchanging: Wealth and power are deeply intertwined, and those who have the former gain the latter in spades. As the 2008 financial crisis and more recent college admissions scandals have illustrated, the pursuit of fortune often motivates individuals to violate legal and moral codes, and it promotes the culture of conspicuous consumption — or, more frankly, overconsumption — that has contributed to the environmental crisis we face. Money itself is a construct, constantly evolving as it has most recently with the “cashless” economy, but it has value that shapes the very political world we live within.
