Money is a strange thing.

It’s necessary of course as bartering doesn’t always work.  I do a job for a pig farmer and he offers to give me two pigs in exchange, but suppose I don’t want two pigs?  The obvious solution is for him to give me a token to the value of two pigs which I can then barter for something I really want, like tobacco.  Everyone is happy.  That’s how moey is supposed to work.

Then along comes wealth and greed.

I don’t have a lot of the stuff.  My income is probably below the official poverty line, but that doesn’t bother me for two reasons – the poverty line is another arbitrary line and I have just about enough income to cater for my needs.  And that is the point – if I have enough, then why the hell should I want more?  This doesn’t seem to work for a fair chunk of the population though.  They amass large sums of money and their ambition is to amass even more.  They measure themselves by their bank balance, and even though they might have more than enough to see out their days, they still have to grasp more and more.

Of course the gubmint is amongst the worst offenders.

Their entire world is based on money.  I notice whenever the Nanny State wants to nag us about something, they never talk about happiness or individual freedom – it’s always “the cost to the state”.  My smoking is my personal pleasure yet they claim I am costing the state millions and how to they try to stop me?  By taking more money off me, of course.  It’s always money.  I do something wrong [real or imaginary] and the state’s answer to to take money off me.  If I am late in paying taxes because I can’t afford them, they threaten to charge me a fine which means I am even less likely to afford them.

As I type, they are debating how to screw me for yet more.  The old Irish Water thing is back in the news again.  They are now proposing that we only be charged for excess water used above a “normal” level.  What’s the betting that the “normal” level will be set at a couple of litres a day?  And of course the limit will be steadily reduced to zero so we will end up paying for all the water.

Of course they are back with the old chestnut that we can’t get a service for free and that we have to pay for it.

They can fuck off.

I already paid my water charges this year to the tune of around €350.

I have the tax disk on the windscreen of my car to prove it.