Money - Nothing Breeds Fairness Faster Than Visibility

In the present society, most people hide the things which they are ashamed of or don’t want other people to know. That is why nearly all of the people hide their money, that is to say, they are not open about it. Monetary affairs are considered to be a private matter, and that’s how it should be… right?

Let’s introduce this segment with a thought experiment: What if the people in a given society were more open about their finances? What if there was more visibility in the financial market in that society, enabling everyone to see where the money flows, how wealth is distributed, and how it is gained? Think about this for a moment. Would this kind of system promote fairness and equality?

The Problem with Our Current Money Situation

It starts with the inherent invisibility of money. The fact that money can be hidden so easily brings with it a plethora of inequity, which makes it quite difficult to establish a marketplace that is based on fairness, equity or honesty. If money is hidden, no one can exactly know how much anyone else has or what they are doing with it. And this is where the problems start to arise. Let me illustrate this point by giving a few examples:

• Corporations can pay two employees vastly different wages for doing the exact same job, for instance. They could pay a man $60’000 a year while paying a woman only $45’000 a year even though both of them perform the exact same function.

• There are all manner of means by which accountants can cause corporate money to appear “hidden” or make it seem as though no revenue was generated. By doing so, they have created a way for companies to evade paying taxes in certain countries.

• The gap between the price of a product and its manufacturing cost could be unreasonably high. Since a company’s cost for producing a product is not necessarily publicly visible, it is possible for companies to demand ridiculous prices that are way above the original cost of their product. (Example: Apple)

Imagine the implications it would have on every market and workspace on the globe, if transactions were made more visible to the public, if companies were forced to publish all salaries of all employees, if products had two figures on every price tag - the price and the manufacturing cost. Would that bring prices down, or what!

Author: Yannick
Last edited: 9. April 2023
Created: 9. April 2023