Our Money Says “In God We Trust.” Why?

I’m not asking about its history, how it came about.  I’m asking about its meaning.  What is the significance of our monetary motto, “In God We Trust”?

Here’s one take on it: Money is powerful.  Still, money isn’t everything.  It guarantees nothing.  It certainly does not guarantee happiness.  It is fleeting, fickle, and feckless.  It is a false god.  And it is wise to remember this.

Though it is tempting to believe so, money is not our savior.  When money is tight and we’re choked in debt, it is tempting to believe that all our problems will be solved with just a little more money (assuming we have a steady job and income).  Indeed, many families, of whatever income level, believe that a 10% to 20% increase of their present earnings will solve all their financial problems.  This is illusory.  Why?

First of all, money is managed and sustained by human systems and institutions.  That is, humans are in charge of money, the making of it, the flow of it, the sustaining of it.  Thus, our belief and trust in money is only as good as the goodness and trustworthiness of human nature.  Question: Exactly how good and trustworthy are we humans?

A matter of misplaced trust:

1. We seem to assume and/or believe that our leaders, professionals, business investors and the like, are always on top of things, highly capable, and always know what they’re doing, making the best decisions—for company, business, investor, bank, and for society as a whole.  However, when we give it a second’s thought, we know that this can’t be true.  Yet we function as if it is, especially when we adopt policies that strip away checks and balances and gut financial regulatory oversight.

2. By the same token, as we strip away financial regulation in order to give the market free reign, we also seem to be saying that these very human leaders and professionals, investors and bankers, especially those at the top of the financial food chain, are predominately altruistic at heart, innocent of any temptation to greed, consistently honest, selfless and considerate of others.  We’re not actually that naïve, are we?

3. We also seem to think that democracy is not threatened when vast amounts of money is accumulated in the hands of fewer and fewer citizens—be they individual citizens or corporate entities.  Money is power.  We know this.  Yet, again, we function as if great power vested in the hands of a few is not only non-threatening but quite a good thing for the citizenry.  History has proven otherwise.

4. Furthermore, we now seem to categorically be blaming the poor for being poor.  We assume that it’s their fault.  We are not to blame the system that put them there.  We are not to look for swindlers and robber barons at the top to share any blame.  Nor are we to blame the unfair and unjust practices, the abuse of power and control, of the money brokers in the highest offices of Wall Street, for example.  We seem to think that the poor deserve to be poor for losing their jobs in the first place, for losing their investments, and for losing the capacity to work by not keeping up with modern day workplace needs.  Yes, the poor are always the best scapegoats for bad economic policies.

5. Finally we seem to assume and believe that the purest form of capitalism with an absolute free market is incontrovertibly the best and only way to prosper a nation.  Our true god seems to be Greed, with the motto “Greed is good.”  History proves that humans require proper checks and balances to prevent excesses and the abuse of power and wealth.  Yet, when it comes to conservative capitalistic thinking, we would have none of it.  But who actually wins in a game where there are no rules but one: “Winner takes all”?

So why do we have the motto, “In God We Trust,” on our money?

Perhaps it is to remind us that Money is a false god.

Perhaps it is to warn us that we are on a dangerous path when we begin to believe that the accumulation of money is the only true measure of success, and that those who accumulate the most money the quickest, actually deserve to have-it-all, just because they know how to manipulate money to make money—at the expense of other people’s hard earned money.

To say “In God we trust” asserts that the principles, values and truths of God should have a greater influence in our social and economic policies than an elite minority of wealthy powerful money brokers. So, given the way we actually function, perhaps our monetary motto should more honestly say: “Money is our God.”