Why are people obsessed with money?

Because we need it to pay our mortgages, dental care and sexy shoe bills. The alternative doesn't bear thinking.

People,in general,are obsessed with the "Now". They are willing to do whatever it takes to "have it all now",even if it means spending time away from family to get it all " now"! What I have realized is that the greatest ivestment I can ever make to my "portfolio" is the time I spend with my husband and daughter. There is no amount of money or possession that surpasses that. I think people would ne better off,as well as our nation, if we invested in building strong families instead of fatter wallets.....strive to spend time instead of money.... Just my opinion.

I think I would like an example of obsessed. If you mean, big oil companies posting record profits while the consumer suffers, then I see your point. If you mean the average family with both spouses working their fingers to the bone to provide a better life for each other and their children, then I don't. As fkt said, we have bills to pay.

There are some political factions in this country that try to promote the "money is evil" thing, which I find ridiculous. The constant claiming of "the rich, the rich" drives me nuts. Instead of trying to lift others up, they try to push the wealthy down.

I suppose that wealth is how we measure success in America, for good or bad. But being obsessed with money, if money=success, is not a bad thing so long as it doesn't rule your actions, ethics, and morals.

We all seem to have this undying need to consume and consume and consume. Therefore to be able to buy the things we want, we have to have money.

I think the better question is why do people have the undying need to consume.

(and that question has now been asked)

because without It...no one can survive in the world..get money

yes we are because we cant resist the fact that while we live our lives someone has it better, better car, bigger house, better job, etc, so they push the rest of us to pursue the same, unless u r part of the mediocre side of the world, is not a bad thing, just keep your morals and your values and things will go fine, if u work hard enough and have enough luck, ur kids will have the best education and u'll retire the way we always dream of....

How about this question?? Where does our money come from???
Do some research and youll find that the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE ORGANIZATION with appointed officials, not elected officials. Basically, when Congress wants money, they go to the FED and ask them to PRINT money BACKED by NOTHING!! We dont use the gold standard so they print paper money. Sounds good except that we pay interest on this paper. That is what majority of our INCOME TAX goes to. It is a SCAM. Also think about this. If you have $100 Million in circulation, and the next year you print another $100 million, you do not get this money, other people do. The value of your dollar goes down. This system is bound to crash eventually. Items dont cost more now then they did 20 years ago b/c they cost more to produce, it is b/c the value of your dollar went down.
RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!! He is a Congressman from Texas that talks about all of this. Check him out on youtube

Because most people work for their money, rather than putting their money to work for them. And money is a very, very tough boss to work for. Always demanding more from you.

Too many folks take the marketers' messages to heart - you have to buy "this" to be happy in life or to make your life easier or to make yourself more worthy in the eyes of others.

Rich is a state of mind; wealth is how much money you have.

I believe it was Charles Barkley who said his mother told him, "If you have a problem and it can be solved with money, it's not a problem, it's a situation."

But to answer your question, we are told more money will solve all problems. Total bunk.

chris6137 said: "Where does our money come from???"
I don't know, but here is another question:

"Why can't we make our own money?!"
or "Why do we need money? Why isn't everything free?"

And with everything, I mean everything. If at least 1 in each family had a job to make, produce and design everything, we didn't need any money at all!

Actually, I always asked myself this question, and now I can ask it :-)

It makes the world go round - apprently. Personally I prefer Sunday monrnings in bed.

klass... I agree some type of barter system would bd nice. Everyone should look at their "job" as their contribution to society

Yes, like we contribute to Fluther giving these answers...

I don’t know if a barter system would solve the problem. Some goods are inherently more valuable than others. For instance, let’s say one family has a doctor, and the other produces decorative beads. Would you trade a heart operation for a handful of beads?

That is why society invented ‘tokens’ (money) to represent the value of a good or service – as a means to facilitate a barter system. I guess the problem is that people begin to see these tokens as an end in itself, and attribute value to accumulating and then spending as many tokens as they can.

Why does this happen? Maybe it’s conditioning. You work 40 hours a week in exchange for a reward, so you get positive feelings from earning and then using that reward to purchase things you need and want, which again is a positive reinforcement. This creates a cycle where the accumulation of money itself becomes attributed as the cause of positive feelings.

@1wealth: the links seems to dead – its giving me a 404 error page

Because:

1) We live in a closed system (the Earth, you know, being spheroid).

2) Some of us are better at exploiting the system—or “creating wealth”, if you want to be all “cup half full” about it—than others.

3) Those who are better at exploitation—ahem—wealth creation…don’t really feel the need to share. Think you’re immune? Well, are you planning your honeymoon in Zimbabwe?

4) Those who have tried sharing (i.e., communitarians, communists, cultists) end up engendering extreme power polarization (i.e., oligarchy, despotism) even more efficiently and obviously than the “democratic” republic.

5) Because the exploiters/creator$ haven’t figured out how to make money from housing the homeless, making prison populations useful or how to get to orbit cheaply enough to begin commercial exploitation/creation$ in space. Blue Ocean thinking takes imagination, a commodity that is discouraged and rare thanks to our 18th century system and habit of buying up/subsequently sitting on patents.

Because unfortunately, money is freedom in this world.

Money is not freedom. If anything, our monetary policy and economics policy, is eroding, EROOOOOODING our freedoms.

There’s an interesting book called: Busting Loose from the Money Game. If you like alternative thinking, this book provides it.

It’s about recognition and self validation. For example ever look at someone’s points on fluther and say wow how do I get that many points. Then the obsession begins.

Its simple in todays society money is power. The more money you have the more people either respect you or want to kill you. Money means you can have everything physical, but it does not grant you happiness. As the old saying goes.

We like money because we can buy iPhones with it! :-)

I don’t know? Why are you? You asked the question?

Power and/or security. You can a find both without money, but it is a lot harder.

Uh, duh, our society REVOLVES around money. You have a lot of money (and know how to manage it) and you do well. You don’t have a lot of money (or don’t know how to manage it) and you are basically a bum.

Because money is a necessity.
without, we as people would be nothing. it determines who we know, how we live, what we see, how we think, and how we act and react. it binds and ties us to obligation, stature, privilege, and blindness.
People are obsessed with money, because people are obsessed with bigger, better, more.
A smile, a walk, a conversation, a moment. Money can’t buy a sincere one of these. Really.

Money is not a necessity. Money isn’t even real. It is simply a representation of an agreement between two or more people.

money is paper with a name. something used to control people. money may not be a necessity to you or to i but to some, it rules their lives.

As i read all of these answers to this diffacult question i notice a pattern.Greed, power, wealth, gold.Im not yet twenty six but i enjoy observing people and society as a whole, and wondering what makes people tick.I think people are missing the missing the bigger picture.The sad truth is that humans are too smart for thier own good.We constantly feel the need to learn about our surroundings and to keep going further and exploring new places.Wich on the surface sounds like a good and right thing to do.But that is our downfall.W really are a virus sucking the life out of earth.We americans are the worst.Im not even gonna touch germans.Americans are so self absorbed and greedy that the majority of us only thinking about how we can further ourselves.I cant help but notice it over and over again, so until that asroid hits and repairs the earth temporarily until we return, people will always be obsessed with money. “IGNORANCE IS BLISS”

Because they are sinners and are deluded by the father of lies Satan!

So how long did you stay in the big house, Vicseay?

@Adam26: Apparently long enough to find God.

No they are not obsessed with money.
It is sex they are obsessed with, however you are not looked kindly upon if you admit to it.

“Money might not buy happiness, but it can rent it for a long time”

Sorry, but money does make happy. MONEY PAYS FOR CHANEL. CHANEL MAKES ME HAPPY =)
Its just a nice thing to have, just not an easy thing to earn.

Money is the purest, most portable and fluid form of social energy. Any energy can make you happy or crazy. It is up to you.

The world revolves around money; Our lives revolve around money. We go to work for money and with this money we can buy material goods. It makes our lives fuller.

money bought my iPhone so it has provided all the happiness i need.

ok ok im not that nerdy but i do think money buys happiness because it provides all the things i enjoy doing. a boat for waterskiing. snowboards. sports stuff. and my computer

money makes the world go round, the world go round, the world go round…

And it makes me happy.

Ego is the answer to it all

@dolly—Well, if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.

well after I won the lottery…...........