Money is time, a commodity which can be used to gage worth in respect to the time needed to construct, design, build, assemble, mine or in other ways accomplish a task, the creation of a product, a skill, an idea or any materialistic value. The value of a dollar changes from moment to moment depending on who possesses it at any specific point in time.

Time is the value of money, or rather the amount of your time that you are willing to trade for something you want or may need.

We all start out with a finite amount of this commodity, it is often taken for granted, and it's perception is very closely related to the age of its possessor. It is an unknown quantity gifted to us by the almighty power, creator or God of our chosen belief and it is given to us to consume as we may desire. Our time can be shared together, used to accomplish tasks, learn new things, exchanged for material needs or wants, enjoyed or wasted, but it cannot be deposited into some other persons account. Each person's time is theirs alone to use and to determine its true value.

Let's imagine for a moment that dollar in the hands of a struggling migrant worker, someone has told him that an hour of his time is worth six dollars and his wants or needs are worth more in the "time is money" equation. He is and will remain a poor man. Take that dollar and put it in the hand of a Wall Street executive, who someone has determined deserves a six figure yearly income and estimate its worth. This is a wealthy man and might remain so as long as his time is perceived to be of more value than the poor migrant worker.

Who is this mystical someone that has determined this value, and why. Truly it can be said that the migrant worker will not care about buying or selling stock and may not even be aware of the stock market. He will never need the time allocated this wealthy person. Equally certain it can be said that at some time this wealthy person will want or need the produce gathered by this poor migrant worker. Equally certain it is doubtful that the wealthy person, not all but most, has no idea how or when to gather, plant or cultivate this produce. The wealthy man indeed does need the poor man. Whose time is really of greater value, who can survive without the other? Oh mystical someone, please tell me how you determine value. Now imagine if this poor man could sell an hour of his life to this wealthy person for deposit into his life's time account, added to the finite quantity gifted to him. What then would be the worth of this hour? In terms of time and money it is understandable to some degree that the time remaining in any particular persons account may be conceived to be of a greater value when gauged by the amount of this commodity they have sacrificed earlier in their life, in their trade for knowledge or skills. Truly, I too place a greater value on certain peoples time. I am powerless to change the dollar value, which has been determined by the mystical someone, and very often I am not in agreement with the mystical someone, but they are a powerful force. They have not given us a phone number or address with which we may contact them and express our disagreements. They are self regulating and seem to favor the wealthy in determining the value of that same hour gifted to each of us by the true powers of our beliefs. Question how an earthly group can place a value on a commodity which they themselves cannot quantify or control. Can there be a Federal Time Depository? Are they the mystical someone? Does anyone out there hear me or care?

I write this and ask these questions from the perspective of a middle aged person, but wait, is this really the middle of my life? Can the mystical someone tell me? Should I expect more dollars now for each of my remaining hours?

I recently went to a Lawyer to do something which was not overly complicated in nature. Mystical someone had told this lawyer his time was worth two hundred and twenty five dollars for each hour. I would not need this lawyer except for the complexity of the laws involved. Who do you think made these laws so complex that I would need a lawyer? The meeting included my wife, myself and the lawyer in the same room, at the same desk and for the same hour. This precious hour gifted to us each was consumed, sacrificed, spent, never to be re-deposited into our time accounts. One hour of my wife's time, value equaled zero dollars, my time the same, the lawyer's hour was rewarded with two hundred and twenty five of these dollars. We each withdrew from our time accounts the same amount, but the lawyer exchanged his hour for a different material commodity which he could put in a different earthly account.

Excuse me mystical someone, I did not ask anyone to complicate this issue, I did not need this to be obscured in written text nor perverted or interpreted to be a complex thing. Why have you given this value to my lawyer's hour and not to mine. Are not both of our hours irreplaceable? Oh, I forgot, you can't answer, as you have not a phone or address to where I might direct my inquiry.

I would bet that the poor migrant worker would not need to part with this many dollars for this reason. This meeting was in regards to a real estate transaction, the same kind performed in other areas on a handshake. Curiously this is one of the few duties originally performed in this country, only by lawyers.

Oh mystical someone, I was told our business model was based on supply and demand, there are plenty of lawyers, I am told I need one, but I would rather not get one, so my demand is low. Does this change the dollar value of his gifted hour?

I often joke about teachers to my family. Not out of disrespect for the profession, but more of a confusion as to the dollar value of their hour. In my area, teachers are paid very well and pay raises are based on their level of education or degrees held, not on performance, ability or the grade level they teach. I contend that to teach a class of third grade English students, you need a little more than a third grade education. I know this is not entirely true but again I disagree with mystical someone who has determined a high dollar value for their gifted hours, there by creating an increase in my taxes. By the way mystical someone, that new library building you put such a high dollar value on is beautiful, but aren't they supposed to have a lot of books in them?

The poor migrant worker probably never had a school, or teacher and has no need of a library, since he probably cannot read, but wait I'm getting hungry, lets go get a book to eat or would you prefer a brick?

My purpose is not to demean any profession or person and if I have offended anyone to this point, I extend my sincere apology. My journey is to locate the mystical someone so I may present my questions.

I often laugh at the value of things. Take for instance the most sought after precious metal, gold. Consider the hours sacrificed by other to mine this metal. How much gold are their gifted hours worth? The mystical someone has set a value on their hour that would barely move a gram scale. What is the value of this metal, why is it sought after? To the best of my knowledge the only use for gold is in the electrical field for its' ability to possess very little resistance to the flow of electricity and in the medical field because of it's inert properties, though I am sure there may be other uses, but you can't eat it, at least not for nourishment. The combined demand in all other uses has very little effect on the value of gold, but for the demand to possess it in its purest form, for what reason I am not sure, it has little value. Would you trade all your gold for an hour of time from the migrant workers remaining gifted hours if you could be sure they would be deposited into your life account?

Ranting to be continued...
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Paul "Tumbleweed"
No writing back ground, skills, training. Terrible with grammar, overly opionated, but I enjoy speaking out and stimulating others to think. That at least is my hope. Like a "Tumbleweed", I ramble on!