4.1.1 Value Return

At this point, everything is about me and my interests. The idea of wealth is reduced to financial resources or cash. In order to acquire the resources required to ensure the welfare of others in one’s inner circle, this forces one to interact with the outside world in a transactional manner. In order to accumulate riches, one invests their energy in the hopes of receiving something of value in return. This is the underlying principle of much modern economic theory and the source of both mercantilist and capitalist ideas (and their ongoing extensions). The implication of this notion is that, if one’s risk-taking pays out, one should expect to receive bigger rewards. In this approach, the value return paradigm allows self-interest to act as a motivator for growth, research, and experiment, all of which can occasionally have positive social effects. Sadly, a variety of social evils, many of which are still present in the twenty-first century, have traditionally been fueled by self-interest and the acquisition of money. Even in an era of extraordinary material plenty and technological competence, sweatshops, child labor, tainted water and air, mountain top clearance, abandoned cities, and failing ecosystems continue to haunt humanity.