M – Money
In In the past, people were encouraged to “save up” for things they needed—or even for things they didn’t, like “a rainy day.” But does saving for a rainy day imply that by expecting one, you’re more likely to experience it? Over the last 30 years in the UK, the year with the highest number of rainy days was 2000, with 176. In 2022, there were 171.
Today, rather than saving, people are heavily encouraged to borrow, and a vast industry has emerged around this: Financial Services—though it might more accurately be described as Financial Disservices. The average UK household now carries a record £65,000 in debt, including mortgages.
O – Oligarchs and Orwell
In 1973, Pink Floyd released a song about money called Money. One lyric, spoken by someone who has suddenly acquired wealth, references buying a football team. The line satirises how those who make a lot of money often spend it in questionable ways. This proved oddly prophetic, as after the fall of communism, Russian oligarchs—such as Roman Abramovich—did exactly that.
Communism, an ideology conceived by Karl Marx, was based on the belief that a utopian society could be achieved through wealth redistribution. The goal was universal equality, freedom, and happiness. It failed—partly due to its violent revolutionary roots (never an ideal beginning), and partly because it overlooked a fundamental flaw in human nature: greed. Many who claimed to support the system had hidden agendas.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm depicts this process brilliantly. The animals overthrow their human masters, only for the pigs—who sought power—to begin oppressing and eliminating dissenters.
A friend of mine was a pig farmer in rural Bedfordshire until a few years ago. He had to close his farm, unable to compete with cheaper, subsidised pork imports from EU countries such as the Netherlands.
Some still believe communism—or a variation of it—could work. But the word utopia itself means “no place” or “nowhere”, suggesting it may be forever out of reach. Ironically, Pink Floyd earned vast sums from the album The Dark Side of the Moon, which featured the song Money.
N – Nothing
Some people work hard to earn a living and pay their way. Others expect money for nothing—and face serious consequences when that expectation goes unfulfilled.
The band Dire Straits addressed this in 1985 with Money for Nothing, a song reflecting the belief that rock stars earn huge sums for little effort—or perhaps questioning that very assumption.
Meanwhile, money you deposit in a bank is treated as the bank’s own. It is lent out multiple times, generating profit—effectively creating money from nothing. The banks give little back to society, despite occasional PR efforts suggesting otherwise. This process consolidates power in the hands of the few and further marginalises those with little or nothing.
E – Economies
Are we reaching a point where global economic systems are beginning to collapse? Some developing countries see their entire annual GDP consumed by servicing national debt. They borrow vast sums from global financial institutions—just to pay the interest on existing loans. How long can this continue?
You don’t need to be a Marxist to see the truth in Marx’s statement: “Capitalism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction.”
Y - You or You?
It’s unjust to blame everyone on long-term benefits for their situation. Their widescreen TVs expose them to idealised lifestyles but offer no real path to achieving them. Marx may have been wrong about the solution, but he was right about the problem. He called it alienation. Today, sociologists use the term anomie—a state of personal unrest and anxiety stemming from a lack of purpose or values.
If you’re on low wages, minimum wage, the so-called living wage, or receiving benefits, you may feel disconnected from a system you neither believe in nor feel part of. For many, the system appears broken.
Some genuinely want to work but cannot find employment. Others—perhaps because of anomie—have settled into a life of dependency.
This divide has existed for decades. As someone noted in 1931:
“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that it does not first take from somebody else. When half the people believe they do not have to work because the other half will support them, and when the other half believes there’s no point in working because their earnings will be redistributed, that, my dear friend, is the end of any nation.”
— Dr Adrian Rogers
Some commentators believe we are heading towards a redistribution of wealth, as Marxist or Communist ideologies begin to influence global political systems. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has allegedly begun preparing for this shift, promoting the notion: “You will own nothing – but you’ll be happy.”
We all want to be happy, don’t we? So, over to you, dear WEF.
Photo: Licence CC 2.0