Understanding Money

I've been surfing around the blogosphere, and I'm constantly running into posts on socio-economic issues. Unfortunately, it seems most people have a very poor grasp on the true fundamentals of economics - NOT the propaganda crap spoon-fed by the mainstream media and the so-called "educational system" - but the underlying realities of economic transactions.
SO - appropos of nothing - here are a few ideas to ponder about the nature of money.
If you ignore EVERYTHING you've ever heard, thought, or been taught about money - one simple thing becomes blindingly obvious - it enslaves everyone on behalf of the elite.
How ?
Look at who controls the "money supply".
The vast majority of people spend their lives struggling to earn enough money to survive.
But money is just a symbol - it is based on a belief that it has value, when in fact - when people lose faith in the governments/corporations that create it, it has none. Think "Zimbabwe".
So there is no "shortage" or scarcity of money - it can be (and is) created endlessly by those controlling the printing presses.
And who are they ? The list is quite short. Those who possess banking licenses; those who own large corporations; those who own and operate the financial markets. And, of course, their lackeys - governments. For these people, there is no shortage, no scarcity - they plunder the world of resources, and arrange things to suit themselves. Assisted by gangs of armed thugs (military forces), who take what the elites want by force when things can't be "bought" (such as a nation's oil, or water, or crops, etc etc).
With money, you are trading your energy, your effort, everything you produce - for a symbol, one that benefits the group that creates that symbol - NOT you !
The people controlling the money supply need spend near-zero effort to create cash, but they trade it for the hard-earned efforts of everyone else ! And, of course, there is the way money leads to the "commodification" of nature - the fact that economics and money treat the natural world as a kind of private supply depot to be destroyed and plundered for profit. So all those who DON'T control the money supply, that is, 99% or more of the world's population, and the natural world itself, are in thrall to an elite.
People are ruthlessly exploited by those who DO control the "production" of money.
There are many, MANY other aspects of economics that are vicious, and create gross inequities in society - such as the many "assumptions" economics makes about the world - things like what is considered "valuable" and what is not - why hedge fund managers earn billions playing electronic money games, while those who take care of others - tending children, the ill and the elderly, and are paid a pittance or not at all. Why things like love, and friendship, and joy that everyone gives the highest value, have little or no economic value at all, and are treated with contempt (or with wry cynical views on how to twist them into something to make a profit) by those in power. There are HUNDREDS, perhaps thousands, of such assumptions underlying economics, all which have very negative effects on almost everyone, and on all of nature.
The conclusion ?
The less energy/time/effort you pour into the monetary system, the more you keep for yourself, and the happier you'll be. It is difficult - the current system does everything in its power to keep you dependent, such as the near-impossibility of "living off the land" anymore, or trying to get away from the whole property trap of rents, mortgages, taxes, etc.
But it CAN be done - witness all the co-ops, barter systems, and mutual aid societies and groups
that avoid government and money like the plague.
If you find this subject interesting, and you'd like me to continue, please post a comment, and we'll go from there.
Hope this got you thinking !
Ciao !