The De-Humanizing Effects of Capitalism

I’m not a Communist, but you don’t have to be Karl Marx to see the (at least potential) de-humanizing effects of Capitalism. In our society, the question, “What is that good for?” is often equated with the question, “Can you make money with that?”

The question should rather be, “What is money good for?”

Well, for lots of things, such as having the time to read books or being able to go out with your family or appreciate art or create something beautiful.

But it is only because those things are good that money is good for anything. Money should never be an end-product, never a goal to which the telos of life is drawn. As soon as money becomes the primary goal, it turns humans into dollar bills: to be used, to be spent, to be shredded when old.