Dan Morris: The root of all evil? Or should it be all about the money, money, money?

‘Trillionaire’ – as in, referring to a ‘trillion’. With a ‘T’. That’s a 1 followed by 12 zeros – 1,000 billion, if you will. Or, an even more sobering 1 million million. 

All of sudden, quiz jackpots dished out to the likes of Judith Keppel and not dished out to the likes of Major Charles Ingram are looking rather small beer, aren’t they?

In a recent interview for an upcoming biography, His Holiness Pope Leo remarked on the projection that SpaceX and Tesla chief Musk could be a trillionaire by 2027, how this highlighted the often excessive pay gap existing between the ranks of the corporate world, and what this may be indicating about society’s values. “CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving … 600 times more [now],” Pope Leo said in an excerpt from the interview released on the Catholic news site Crux earlier this month.

“Yesterday [there was] the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world,” he added. “What does that mean, and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.”

With him being the world’s richest man, it is never any great surprise for talk of Mr Musk’s monumental wealth to make the headlines, but is Pope Leo right? Is society driven more than ever by exuberant financial gain, and losing its appreciation for the value of anything else? Are we, indeed, in trouble?

Most people who say they don’t care about money are probably lying, and those that genuinely don’t are probably those who have always possessed it in gargantuan supply.

There was a delicious quote in Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator, in which the titular industrialist (played to perfection by Leonardo DiCaprio) remarks that the only reason his prospective in-laws, the Hepburns, don’t care about money is because they’ve always had it.

It makes sense. Why would you be worried about or motivated by something that has always been a constant in life? Well, for the simple fact that one day it might not be. There were, of course, many ‘Old Money’ families who, with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, came to care about money very deeply, and perhaps wished they had done so a little earlier. But, hey ho.

For most of us, I don’t personally believe that there is anything wrong with being ‘money motivated’, and it is not for anyone else to decide when another’s financial ambitions should be fulfilled. In a BBC radio interview many years ago, rock musician and co-founder of KISS, Gene Simmons, was criticised by a listener about his pursuit of wealth, and responded by stating that it was up to him to decide when he had enough dosh. He was quite right.

If the thought of adding a few more zeros to your bank balance is what gets you out of bed in the morning, then good for you. This is far better than being lazy.

Personally, I go to work to make money to provide for my daughter and give her a nice life. I’m not motivated by money for money’s sake, and probably neither is Musk.

Pope Leo’s job is, of course, to be one of the world’s moral compasses-in-chief, and he is quite right to use his position to remind humanity that there is more to life and happiness than the relentless pursuit of wealth.

The Bible is often misquoted as stating that money is the root of all evil. The actual quote reads “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. 

The distinction is important. In the Bible, money is considered amoral, not, in itself, inherently immoral; it’s a tool that can be used for good or bad. And I would argue that the pursuit of it can lead to very good things indeed. 

A wonderful teacher of mine once suggested that good ol’ Bill Shakespeare probably wasn’t out to culturally enrich the world – he wanted to make a few quid. Yet, as a by-product of his ambition, the world was culturally enriched to the nines. And, through rocking and rolling all night, Gene Simmons has also made his contribution. 

So are we in ‘big trouble’? Not quite yet, I think. Issues of fair pay need to be addressed, but looking at how the other half live is what inspires many people to succeed, and with their success can come wonderful things that make the world a nicer place. 

There is more to life than money, but the chasing of it doesn’t have to make you The Devil, and isn’t causing the collapse of society just yet.