Inflation of Greed

We're hearing much these days about the economy, and the risk of inflation due to economic pressures. Money may be scarce for many, with long-term unemployment being the situation many find themselves in, often through no fault of their own.

Despite the credit crunch, recession and all the rest, there is one measure of economics that continues to grow steadily, with no foreseeable decline - the inflation of greed. I noticed it the other day with the new song from Travie McCoy 'I wanna be a billionaire so so bad'.

A few years back, Kelis and Andre 3000 were singing about being a millionaire, but that just doesn't cut it any more. McCoy has to go one further, in this inflation of greed to be a billionaire! The primary reason (according to his chorus) is so that he can

Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

While he makes some interesting points in the verses, talking about how anyone near him wouldn't know what hungry was, the repeated chorus has him wanting his name in lights, being in a different city every night. The philanthropy or charity goes out the window when it comes to fame and fortune.

There are many people wanting the same thing as Travie McCoy, although they don't sing about it to the world in the charts. The desire for riches, fame, success continues to grow and consume people, but they ultimately don't satisfy. As we're reminded in the Bible, we brought nothing into the world and we take nothing out of the world. Dressing our desires up with some fancy lines about charity just won't cut it - after all, you don't need to be a billionaire to help other people; you don't need to be loaded to relieve someone else's burden.

I wanna be a billionaire so so bad? Perhaps not. What's next - I wanna be a squillionaire, a trillionaire, or a bajillionaire? Let's hope not!