That’s a John Lennon lyric from his famous song, Imagine. I hate that song. I know I’m kind of out of the mainstream on that. Lot’s of people seem to love the song and sentiment. Some of it’s OK. I like peace. But all the Marxist claptrap about no money and no possessions, well, if you can’t say something nice…
So, why am I trashing a song by a dead Beatle? Well I saw this article about a woman in Germany who gave up money back in the 90′s. Hasn’t spent a cent since. She barters and trades and sleeps on people’s couches. She likes it, apparently. Why not? She’s living off the generosity of others. Someone made a movie about her and they used that John Lennon lyric to market the video. Ironic, eh? Someone making money-making a film about a woman who has given up money.
It all sounds wonderful and I almost wrote a post about the woman. I mean, talk about frugality! Then I watched the video. She lives in Germany where social programs abound. She travels because people offer her free tickets and places to stay because she is kind of famous. Then the woman goes on and on about how the system doesn’t work and everyone knows it.
Huh? The system is the reason that woman can do what she does. If she wasn’t getting people who work for money buying her way through life, she couldn’t do what she was doing. Sure she could probably live without using money, bartering for the basics, but who pays when she gets sick? Who pays when she gets too old to live on her own? I’m guessing the German tax payers do.
She travels and has a great time by relying on others to pay the bill. She lives this great life at the expense of the system she says in broken. She may not use money, but she is far from financially independent. The system she eschews is allowing millions to work, earn money and become financially independent. Free from toil, free from bosses and supervisors and free to do what they want when they want.
Oh yeah, that’s horrible. But not only do millions of us become financially independent at some point during out lives, we support millions of others like that grandma from Germany. People that occupy Wall Street and complain everything isn’t handed to them on a silver platter. Sure this system isn’t perfect, but it has created more wealth and prosperity for more people than at any point in human history.
There is no utopia. There will never be a world without possessions or money. Mainly because the people who want such a thing don’t understand that if no one works, innovates, dreams and takes risks, no one will have anything. They want to take, but their utopia means there will be no one to take it from. I celebrate our system. It ain’t perfect, but it has allowed me and millions, heck tens or even hundreds of millions, to become financially independent and experience true, unadulterated freedom. I’ll take that over some utopian version of serfdom any day.
Jan 13, 2012 @ 13:04:20
Wow. Whaddya really think?
As for me, I think that you’ve interpolated a bit too far off. My understanding from the article is that she actually works for most things provided by others. Yes, she gets some things free, but, hey, I’ve had free tix/stuff offered to me by friends (and once by a total stranger who didn’t want to have her tix go to waste).
I’m not sure if she was advocating this as a lifestyle choice (Maynard G. Krebs comes to mind with that famous one word line: “WORK????!!!” ). And I don’t quite see her as a “Welfare Mama” (a huge distortion from past propaganda campaigns). She’s doing her thing, and I figure that if she knocks on your door offering to trade washing your windows for a meal or a night on a basement sofa, well, you can just decline and let her be on her way. Didn’t see/read anything that equated her to a beggar (and of course we know that ALL beggars are just avoiding having to get a REAL job…). Not sure where she convinced you that she was a freeloader or someone taking unfair advantage of whatever social programs you are denigrating. How ’bout the fame and fortunes of those talentless celebrities well-known only for being well-known? What do they contribute/earn?
As someone who has occasionally been a street musician (aka busker), I found that many were quick to regard me as a beggar, which I consider highly insulting in light that I wasn’t begging but actually was offering some very fine music free (despite the many hours/years of practice behind my banjo). Any money offered was gratefully accepted as a fair trade. Am I being too Marxist?
Jan 13, 2012 @ 13:10:44
By the way, here is the site of the article (I didn’t see you give an address). Reads VERY different from the way you portray her (she doesn’t even rely on any social health programs). Read it if you dare.
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/woman-hasnt-used-money-in-15-years.html
Jan 13, 2012 @ 15:57:49
I may have taken some of the things she said and things from the article I read too literately. She did however say that our system was broken or something to that effect. And a reference was made to how can some people have nothing and others slave away for money. She may in fact work for every thing she gets. But In Germany, many of the things you and I pay for here are supported by tax payers. That, to me, is living off of others. The difference between those famous for nothing celebs and someone living off of a government program is no one holds a gun to your head, so to speak, when you buy that People magazine or watch those TV shows that feature them. Don’t pay your taxes, and someone comes knocking with full force of the government behind them.
I may have been harsh, but our system is what allows that woman to do what she does. Do you think in North Korea she would be allowed to do that? She can do whatever she wants. When she gets sick or is to frail to travel around working for room and board, the tax payers will take care of here. Without our free markets and our lust for money, she couldn’t do any of that. Like I said, our system ain’t perfect, but it has generated more wealth, allowed more people to rise out of poverty, and provided more free rides, that probably all the other systems combined. I suppose I was a little put off hearing her say, at least twice in the trailer I saw, that it is broken and we all know it.
I do appreciate the comments and the link. I encourage my readers to check it out and decide for themselves. If I am way off base, so be it. I’ve been known to be wrong now and then.
Jan 13, 2012 @ 20:44:20
I’ve reread that article many times and still have trouble finding all the faults that set off such a rant. She’s NOT a free-loader. In fact, it seems she’s pretty innovative and active about focussing her life and helping others to help themselves:
“She had always believed the homeless didn’t need actual money to be accepted back into society, only a chance to empower themselves by making themselves useful, so she opened a Tauschring (swap shop), called “Gib und Nimm” (Give and Take).”
You seem to imply that North Korea has a much better way of dealing with her lifestyle. You’re probably right that they too wouldn’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t “buy into the system.” The Taliban seems to have the same approach.Obviously, we should emulate them.
And I guess you’re right that anyone too poor or sick to afford any health care should just be left in the (side) streets to die; it seems to be the New Christian political way of dealing with such people. If they are poor and/or sick, it is obviously ALL their fault. We got ours, so screw them – and by all means let’s not let the government get involved in this crusade.
Jan 17, 2012 @ 06:50:55
As far as I know she is not living off social security.
Yes, she may use some things that are paid by taxes. But so is the millionaire who has his tax advisers to advise how to legally avoid paying taxes.
I am not a fan of hers, but if anyone wants to check out her website:
http://projekte.free.de/gibundnimm/englisch.html
For those who read German there is also her new book as pdf and free.
And a link to her movie:
http://livingwithoutmoney.org/
Jan 20, 2012 @ 09:59:50
Maybe I am way out in left field. Who knows? Made you look though and that was the point.