Money doesn't talk. Prices do.

A sort of common claim is that we put too much value on money - but money is only a medium, and how much you have is just a measure of capacity. What we value can be seen through prices, so long as they're relatively free to adjust and communicate that information.

If we were able to re-set the values of society, we would expect prices to change, but not the desire to have the means to get the things we value.

Money doesn't talk. Prices do, if we let them.

And likewise, "eternal economic growth" isn't about mindless, fantastical growth just for growth's sake. It's about better nutrition and medical care for children born in poor countries. It's about curing cancer. It's about more humane food production. And it's about cleaner energy and more efficient land use.

Sweden no longer burns its land to farm. But when they were very poor, they did. They did it into the 20th century. Should Brazilian farmers who are burning the Amazon to clear land today be denied the chance to become wealthy enough, as the Swedes have, to leave this practice behind? Or is that hope just mindless greed? Is hoping that we can keep making farming more efficient, so forest cover can keep recovering in North America, a fairy tale? I hope not.

If all that we cared about was economic growth for the sake of economic growth, then the people horrified by it would have a much better point. What we care about is what economic growth gets us. A lot of that stuff is frivolous, but a lot of it matters. And we've never figured out a way to get the stuff that matters while cutting off the stuff that not everyone sees the value in.

It's not. about. money. Except to the people who claim it is.