THE ILLUSION OF VALUE

by Adwoa Badoe

Money is arbitrary systems of values

Time quantifier of service or merchandise

provided,

Is the money that I make,

The money I am worth

The house and neighborhood I live in

And the car I drive

Take a summation of years in school,

A computation of years of experience

Product of society, democracy and development

Squared and squared then cubed

Comes to fullness at sixty-five,

Then I retire

You retire but are we then equal at nought?

The equator separates north from south

Investments return, stocks decline

Closed systems of life and physics apply

Returns me to zero when I die

The power of Money is circulation

Buy and sell and sell again

Add or lose a few cents each round

Print more paper, mint more coins

Assign a value, any figure

Weight it by gold or copper or wood

Blood must circulate as much as money

Or else it stagnates and expires