The Morality of Money

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SOHUM TRIPATHI ('24)

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Have you ever questioned what the true fuel source of life is? At first glance, you might say food. While that is true, to be able to consume food, you must have something else: money. Whether in the form of pieces of paper, coins, or digital zeros and ones, money has been around for tens of thousands of years. In itself, money is worthless; however, in a functioning society, its worth can be great. Money always has been based largely on this idea of trust. While the ethics of money are rarely questioned, the various methods of acquiring money, irrespective of its legality, have been somewhat controversial and disputed, being regarded as unjust or simply dishonorable. It should be noted and acknowledged that, for every penny someone makes, money can also be used to ruin and upend the average person’s life, regardless of intent.

 

One method of acquiring money that is technically illegal but is very common is through scams. Specifically, I am talking about telephone scammers who scam individuals, making them pay, in most cases, more than $2,000 for a purpose that the scam victim believes is to repay credit card debt or to prevent exposure of his/her social security number. This is not true, as the scammer is the only one who is getting paid. At first glance, the ethics of this situation may seem obvious. A scammer is scamming innocent people out of their hard-earned money. However, we have to look at the scammer’s side as well. Given that most of these scammers are based in call centers around the globe, we can use the context to determine their motives. For example, a lot of these scammers may come from very impoverished families and backgrounds. To them, scamming is not forcibly deceiving innocent people into acquiring money; rather, it is a way to feed the family, keep a roof over their heads, and be able to have a semi-decent life. This way of thinking is largely attributable to the common stereotype that all Americans are rich. (Abadi). Therefore, we can see how a common stereotype, as well as a pressing motivation to help loved ones, might influence someone into becoming a scammer.

 

Another method of acquiring money, or rather, saving money, would be always to find the least expensive way to expand the business. For example, someone is the president of a company that manufactures and sells textiles and he or she wants to save money. To do that, the president relocates all the company’s factories to developing nations because the labor costs are lower there than in more industrialized nations. Therefore, more money is saved allowing for the company’s expansion. In comparison to the previous method of making money, the ethics in this situation are somewhat more clouded, in the sense that the method is technically legal, and no one is taking money from anyone. The ethical complication lies in the factories themselves. With little supervision from the company, the factory supervisors take extreme measures to save money for the company, as well as for themselves, to reap the benefits. According to Beh Lih Yi, factory conditions in Vietnam and various other countries are callous when compared with factory conditions elsewhere in the world. Factory workers must work fifty hours a week without overtime or any rest days. Even with many hours of overtime, many of these workers are struggling to make ends meet. In addition, the factory workers in the other countries before the factory relocation would be put out of a job. (Yi). Therefore, we can see how people might be affected by a simple decision to save more money. After reading these accounts, one might think that the ethics of the situation are clear and that the president of the textile company is wrong on all counts. However, the governments of both countries with which the company is involved with are also partly at fault. The reason is that the minimum wage of some countries is different from—and often lower than—that of other countries. This difference provides an incentive for businesses looking to save money to relocate their factories. The governments of the countries in which the factories were formerly located were also at fault because they could have implemented laws to encourage businesses to keep their factories in their current location. The bottom line is that, although it is legal, factory relocation is unethical and all three parties (the company and the two countries) are at fault for allowing the workers to be badly treated or to become unemployed. 

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What emotional impact can these radical shifts in the job market have on the everyday worker? This subject is often overlooked when companies and governments are making the decisions described in the previous paragraph. For instance, a factory worker in Ho Chi Minh City just finished a grueling shift, only to learn that a new wave of young workers will soon enter the job market because of the high demand created by corporations that are seeking cheap labor. What this means for the average worker is that he or she will have even less of a chance to advance and to earn more money, resulting in the possibility of lifelong poverty. On the other hand, the factory worker in a more developed country with higher wages will be put out of a job and will fall into the trap of poverty if he or she does not find another job quickly. However, as more and more companies move their manufacturing operations to less developed countries with cheap labor, it will be increasingly difficult to find a job as a factory worker in the developed world. Imagine, just for a moment, that you, the reader, had a family member affected by either of these circumstances. A reasonable guess is that you would feel a mixture of sadness, anger, and confusion. After all, companies don’t usually think about the impact that their decisions have on people. 

 

Fracking is also a controversial way of making money. Essentially, it is a method of extracting oil and/or natural gas from the ground using drills that go anywhere from one kilometer to two kilometers underground. After extracting all the natural gas, ‘fracking liquid’ is injected into the bedrock, then the drill drills again and the bedrock shatters. This releases all the trapped oil and natural gas, allowing it to be collected. The financial benefits of this process are evident, as multiple oil and gas companies could turn a serious profit with the newfound discovery of the trapped oil and natural gas reservoirs. The ethical conflict is that, in many instances, contaminated water coming up from the reservoirs contains dangerous chemicals like salts, acids, lubricants, and alcohols. These chemicals can seep from the drilling site to the outside environment and, in some instances, into the sewage systems of surrounding communities. Therefore, we can readily recognize the ethical dilemma that this process is causing. On one hand, fracking is a good thing because companies can get more money and because the oil and natural gas supply can be increased, leading to more energy. On the other hand, people and ecosystems near the fracking sites can be severely impacted in a negative way by both the water contamination and the air pollution resulting from fracking. In the end, the fracking decision is based on the law, because fracking is not as discreet as a tech support scam nor is it as easy as simply relocating a factory to a place that offers cheaper labor. According to scientists, fracking in the correct areas and with the correct materials can be safe for both the environment and the communities close by. Fracking has decreased significantly since the start of 2020; therefore, it has resulted in less money. However, the ethical dilemma still stands, and therefore the companies benefiting from fracking as well as the industry itself are at fault for the contamination and the illnesses resulting from this method of extracting natural resources.

 

Overall, the true morality of money cannot be determined from these three examples alone because is used every day in every corner of the world for a variety of reasons, ranging from buying bread for the day to building a rocket to send satellites into orbit. All of the uses of money have their moral implications, some more glaring than others. Therefore, it is important to be aware when using money that it carries a lot of moral weight. All in all, making money, through any method, can and most likely will have some ethical and moral implications. For this reason, it is imperative to remember that, for each cent one makes, it must be acknowledged that one’s money could potentially pose an ethical dilemma that can impact other people who are simply trying to live their lives.

 

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