The Meaning of Money

To a European, money means power, the freedom to do as he likes, which also means that, consciously or unconsciously, he says: "I want to have as much money as possible myself and others to have as little as possible."

In the United States, wealth was also acquired by stealing, but the real exploited victim was not a human being but poor Mother earth and her creatures who were ruthlessly plundered. It is true that the Indians were expropriated or exterminated, but this was not, as it has always been in Europe, a matter of the conqueror seizing the wealth of the conquered, for the Indian had never realized the potential riches of his country. It is also true that, in the Southern states, men lived on the labor of slaves, but slave labor did not make them fortunes; what made slavery in the South all the more inexcusable was that, in addition to being morally wicked, it didn't even pay off handsomely.

Thanks to the natural resources of the country, every American, until recently, could reasonably look forward to making more money than his father, so that, if he made less, the fault must be his, he was either lazy or inefficient. What an American values, therefore, is not the possession of money as such, but his power to make it as proof of his manhood; one he has proved himself by making it, it has served its function and can be lost or given away. In no society in history have rich men given away so large a part of their fortunes. A poor American feels guilty at being poor, but less guilty than an American rentier who had inherited wealth but is doing nothing to increase it; what can the latter do but take to drink and psychoanalysis?

Short Answer Questions

1. What can be concluded from the first paragraph?
2. To an American, money means ____.
3. Europeans exploit other people to become wealthy, while the Americans exploit ____.
4. The author seems to believe that the natural resources in the U.S. are ____.
5. What does the author think an American rentier should feel if he cannot increase his wealth?

(Keys.)