What to do - the meaning of money - are you going to be "poor" or "broke"

We all work for money. We "need" it to buy stuff. We have not used cash for years and have substituted credit for cash. So if there is no credit - then what?

My father's mum was the richest woman in Canada in 1931. By 1933, she was penniless. Her father was the J P Morgan of Canada and he had gone bust. Her husband, my grandfather, was a stock broker who had also gone bust.

Here she is riding just behind the Prince of Wales during his visit to Canada in the 1920's.

They had no money. None. They moved to their cottage out of Montreal. My father's nanny was not paid for 8 years. She, Nan, and many others like her worked for room and board. Nanny had a small cottage made out of part of the horse barn. They got through the depression by borrowing some money from the rest of the family. My grandfather paid back his brothers in law in the early 1950's. It took that long - 20 years.

The loss of status was too great for my granny - it broke her. I bet that many who have been broken on Wall or Bay Street will find the loss of status and identity too hard as well.

But for many, such as Nan, they just got on with life and found that if they had a place to live, food on the table and people to care for and people that cared for them, that life could still be good.

Life could be good! For what makes life work is what made it work for all time except for in our recent time. If you have a community and if you give to it - you can be fine. You can be better than fine.

I spoke a friend on PEI a short time ago. His dad had told him the same story. He reminded Gordie that when he was a boy on PEI that there was no money. He went further. He said that "No money" did not mean a little money. It meant 'None".

But life was not too bad. Because most of what you need could be supplied by your self or your community. Need a major repair to your house/barn - your neigbours. Need child care - your family or your friends. Need to get 10 cords of wood in - your neighbours. Need to take a heavy load into town - you borrowed a wagon from a neighbour. Need entertainment - host a party. Need labour - provide food. Need food - grow or raise it.

Need credit - the corner store. The corner store was the great exchange that lubricated the local economy. This was the clearing house where much of the "business" was transacted. Could be Tims now. Every community that works has such a place. The early financial exchanges grew out of coffee houses.

The key is to be a good neighbour your self. Be a contributor. Be a worker for yourself and for your community. You have to give to get.

One of the ways that we have made money and credit so central to our lives is that we have substituted "social capital" and self reliance for financial capital and dependence. In so doing we have told ourselves that we don't need our community. We have got so busy getting the money, that we have become isolated.

We can take back our control if we can make the connection again to the bounty of our friends and neighbours (Social Capital) and if we replace convenience with work.

My son - who is richly connected - is once again a "starving artist". He complained to a friend that he was poor. Amit replied. "James you are not poor - you are broke - there is a difference!"

So what is the meaning of money? It's useful. But it has become our God. It is useful in that it can be a great exchange medium. But people and all primates have been living good lives for millenia by relying on social capital. We can learn to do this all over again.