Many people question us "Is there anything like good money and bad money?"All money is money. Gresham's law is an economic principle that states: "When a government compulsorily overvalues one type of money and undervalues another, the undervalued money will leave the country or disappear from circulation into hoards, while the overvalued money will flood into circulation." It is commonly stated as: "Bad money drives out good", but is more accurately stated: "Bad money drives out good if their exchange rate is set by law."
Thinking about money is not same by all people. There are different thinking about money. How one has earned money is more important than how much money one has to some people. That is why people classify money into good money and bad money according to ways it is augmented. What is bad money? Any money earned in a illegal way is bad money. It is money made by hook or crook only. There is hardly any sweat behind such money.It is seldom used for a good purpose. It may be money earned in gambling, it may be money received as a bribe, it may be money stolen from somebody, it may be money made in black market, or it may be money earned by cheating somebody. In short , it is because of which one is looked upon with scorn and which in any way does not add to one's stature. On the other hand good money is hard earned money which is earned in a noble or royal way with one's sweat. Even hard money does not remain with us. Then, how bad money can remain with anybody for long. Bad money not only does not remain for long with anybody but also it drives out whatever good money that is with anybody too. Money is a fickle mistress. Normally only those who consider money is everything are after bad money. Those who have bad money seldom have peace of mind. They do not know the value of money also. Those who earn bad money do not like company of good people at all. They enjoy the company of only those who think and act like them. A bad money is trouble maker.
In this context, we come across numerous instances in our life.We also find that those who earn bad money generally would not have conscious at all .They stoop to any level to achieve their objectives. Nobody likes people who are after bad money.No God fearing man will be ever after bad money. God fearing men are reluctant to touch even bad money with their hands. According to them bad money is always sinful. They feel what is important is not how much money one has but how that money has been earned . Bad money seldom lasts long. Life of bad money is generally very short only.
Yesterday,I was reading a popular Kannada evening newspaper by name “Sanjevani”in Bangalore. It is through Sanjevani we Bangaloreans generally have fresh & hot evening news. It carried the news regarding arrest of one Mr. Venu. I was surprised to go through that news column. It drew my entire attention. Mr.Venu was taken into police custody only after receipt of complaints from several banks and upon investigation. The investigations revealed that he had defrauded those banks in the city to a tune of 3 to 5 crores of rupees. Modus operandi in those instances of fraud was offering false or forged titled deeds of landed properties as security to the loans that he availed from banks. I had thought him to be a cunning fellow. If he were cunning it would not have mattered, he had turned out to be a rogue. Why he required so much money? That was the very first question that arose in my mind. Venu was a rich person by birth. I know him personally. His father had amassed so much wealth as a store keeper in a government department that it was suffice for Venu to lead life comfortably without doing anything.
There was no need for him to take up any job or a profession at all. There was no need for him to strive at all. He could have stretched both legs and very well sat relaxed at home. He could have had all luxuries at home without any sweat and could have enjoyed life according to his whims and fancies to the brim. This being case, why did he stoop to this low level? Is it to prove that Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility does not apply to money? Being educated why he could not differentiate between what is legal and what is illegal? Why he could not understand that illegal practices would bring disrepute not only to him but also to his family and would land him in jail sooner or later. Did he not have that much of common sense or whether he had lost his wits? Why did he not understand that money earned honestly by good means through hard work is good money? Why did he not realize that money accumulated through wrongful means like corruption, cheating and gambling does not last long and it is bad money? Is fraud and cheating etc are hereditary? His wife was not an illiterate. She was also a graduate too. Wife is said to be a partner in ones progress. Why she did not come in the way of Venu and dissuaded him from those misdeeds? Such other questions hovered in my mind. Nothing takes place without a reason in this world. Behind everything that takes place in this world there is a reason.However it's impossible to arrive at it until one sits and analyzes. In the end I came to the conclusion that he certainly might have had not one or two but numerous vices. Good takes birth in good and bad takes birth in bad. It is mostly inheritance of traits. One bad thing makes one to do many bad things.
How Venu’s father became a multimillionaire is an untold story. Only a few knew how he became opulent. He was a mere matriculate. His salary was not exorbitant. It was not even sufficient to meet his household expenses. He had risen from rags to riches through dubious means only. His children were all good at studies. He had educated his children very well. His one daughter was a post graduate married to a doctor. His other daughter was a doctor married to a doctor and was having a nursing home in a posh locality at Bangalore. Venu's elder brother was an engineer. Venu himself had graduated in two or three disciplines. All of them were having posh bungalows, luxurious cars etc. In short the family was opulent and well educated. Anyone would have been jealous of that family. Venu's mother was also a shrewd capable and fashionable lady. She was thorough with both Indian and western cultures. She had a world tour with her husband too. It was she who was responsible for the upbringing of children. She was egoistic. Venu was also egoistic. Ego is the biggest enemy of humans.
No doubt education influences an individual but that would be only to a little extent only .The perverted intelligence, overconfidence in his abilities and his father’s phenomenal success in amassing wealth and remaining Scot free prompted Venu to resort to illegal practices. Venu was a short and a stout man. He not only resembled a villain in appearance but also his laughter resembled that of a villain. He was too haughty in behavior. He was thinking too much of his wisdom. National Academy of Sciences suggests there may be combinations of genes and environmental factors that make it hard for some people to maintain control over their habits. Here Venu inherited from his father fraudulent means and that might have tempted him to commit frauds. He was a chip off the old block. One can fool others once or twice but not always. Only when ones stars are good one remains Scot free and not always. It is not enough if one is intelligent, one has to utilize their intelligence properly. That is what Venu’s miserable plight reveals us.
My mind darted back. I recollected Government store and misappropriations which I was witnessing way back in 1950; I was studying in high school during that period. I was assisting a chemist and druggist during my leisure time. Mr.Subbanna was a postman who was delivering post to our shop in those days. He was always delivering parcels containing medicines which were meant for registered medical practitioners to that chemist and druggist. They were physician’s samples meant for doctors. They were not meant for sale. Unfortunately, they were sold to public and Mr.Subbanna was paid regularly for his services by my boss. Similarly, Dr Henry, a dentist was visiting our shop quite often. He was husband of a female nurse in local district hospital. Dr Henry was getting through his better half medicines brought to hospital by relatives of patients for their treatment. Mrs.Henry was hoodwinking those patients and their relatives and diverting substantial portion of those medicines at a throw away price to my chemist and druggiest. I remember one Mr. Perris. He was a Goan. He was a male nurse in the same hospital. He too was following the footsteps of Mrs. Henry. It is very hard for poor people to bear expenses especially while they are ailing. But there is no other go for them, than to meet those expenses. Above cited instances of devouring funds of inmates of a hospital by staff there is really inhumane. Besides those instances what shocked me very much was working of stores department in that Government Hospital. The stores department of a hospital receives supplies of medicines from department of health for the exclusive use of patients who undergo treatment in that hospital or nearby dispensaries. Resident Medical Officer, District Medical Officer and Mr. Ross, storekeeper had formed a coterie. They diverted bulk of medicines which were meant for patients to chemists and druggists shop where I was working for some consideration. Indents and supplies can be easily manipulated in a stores department if a coterie is formed.
Further in those days there was a company by name M/s Hari & Co. It was supplying a tincture by name Zanzibar or so. It contained mostly alcohol. Tinctures were used by doctors in the mixtures that they were getting prepared for their patients. There used to be a pharmacist for this purpose with every doctor. Now –a-days, seldom a doctor prescribes a mixture. We do not find a pharmacist with a doctor at all. Age old practices are dying hard. There was prohibition at that place in those days. Chemist instead of supplying to doctors Zanzibar sold it to drunkards at abnormal price and amassed wealth. Cost price of that tincture was around eight rupees only or so at that time whereas the chemist used to sell it at an exorbitant price of rupees 20/- a bottle. After sixty years of age, my boss who had amassed wealth through unfair and illegal means breathed his last. His heirs did not enjoy the wealth left behind by him. It was rather a curse than a boon to them. They did not prosper at all. On the contrary, they suffered in various ways a lot especially health wise. To-day, it is not an opulent family. Bad money has driven out all their good money out.
Similarly, fortune, happiness in family of Mr. Venu has been slowly and steadily dwindling day by day. There is no greater sadness than dwindling away of a family. Not only wealth but also his entire family is disbanded and is in disarray. Venu is in jail. Wife with their only son is in a small rented house. Daughters are at different places in deplorable plight.
I pitied Venu. Money good or bad can't buy one happiness but it does bring one misery. It can't buy one self esteem at all. I concluded that money is not everything. Wealth is not permanent. One should lead a good life and habits will make it pleasant. Honesty is the best policy. Bad money is a slow poison. Bad thoughts do not allow even a good thought to remain in a mind. Similarly, bad money does not allow any good money to remain with one at all. Anything bad spreads like a wild fire. Anything bad is cancerous and destroys everything. Bad money always drives good money out.