The Ethics of Wealth

Despite knowing this, many of us still shy away from talking about it openly. As New Age guru Deepak Chopra puts it: "Most people find it difficult to tell someone exactly how much money they make. This is because they believe that they are worth only what they earn.

" Why should this be so? American journalist Marjorie Kelly tried to answer this question in her article 'Are you too rich if others are poor. "One of our unconscious but profound beliefs about money is that it is a zero-sum game, and that for one person to have more means another has less. In short, that wealth is made on the backs of the poor. But there is an assumption here that is only partly accurate, and that is that money is a physical commodity that can be moved about like a pile of marbles. I suspect that the truth is that money has a dual nature. For if the zero-sum theory holds part of the truth of money, the other part is this: prosperity can beget prosperity.

"John Stussel, host of the 20/20 American TV show's episode on the positive side of greed, accurately puts it: "Bill Gates is a good example. He's now one of the world's richest men. He's got about $40 billion. But does his having $40 billion mean the rest of us have lost $40 billion? No.

"According to Stussel, in a trade-driven economy even if a person is greedy for more wealth, he just can't grab it from others. "To get your money, he has to persuade you, entice you. To do that, he has to make something that you will willingly give him money for. All commerce requires both parties to benefit. Take the simple example. I buy a quart of milk from a farmwoman. I hand her the dollar; she gives me the milk. We both benefit, because she wanted the dollar more than the milk, and I wanted milk more than the dollar.

"Ram Piparaiya, Chairman, Aridhi Hitech Industries, Mumbai agrees: "Money does not corrupt. It depends on the user. Corrupt people become more corrupt with it." He, however, feels that those who don't earn but win money, especially through lotteries or gambling, are more likely to be corrupted by it

.B.R. Tangri, chief manager (PR) at the Oriental Bank of Commerce, Delhi, has a pointblank response to the debate: "How can money be evil? After all, can one survive without money?

"Actually, the notion that money corrupts is itself debatable. Money, intrinsically, is a means of trade. And the person who holds more money has greater power to dictate the terms of trade. Now, we have all heard that 'power corrupts'. But does power corrupt all? What about great leaders who have had the power to shape history, yet did it with integrity and wisdom? Then, shouldn't the responsibility of not being corrupt lie with the person and not the object of temptation?

"A knife can be used by a terrorist or by a surgeon," agrees Somani. "Bofors guns can be used to defend the country or get embroiled in an underhand deal. Whether money corrupts or not depends on one's attitude and character.

""Your attitude towards money," says Pradhyot Somaiya, management accountant with Davnet Telecommunications in Sydney, "has a significant reflection on your attitude to life. Some people see money as a means to an end, some as a tool to wield power, some as an end in itself-thinking it will bring them happiness. A person who sees money as only a means to satisfy needs will be relaxed and more benevolent than one who craves money for providing self-worth, security or power.

"Money may buy you ten yachts and five mansions. But, as the cliché goes, it really cannot buy you happiness. Or self-worth, for that matter. If you run after money to find what you couldn't find within, you are chasing a mirage that will only leave you more at a loss.