Oh come now, Wretchard, nowadays, it’s not all about money.

Power counts for something, too.

And the Power to tell people how they can spend their money – which inevitably means tapping into that revenue stream as well.

In my years working among the Denizens of DC I came to the inevitable but sad conclusion that it all comes down to Money. All sorts of Social Imperatives and Bold New Ideas come down to money and who gets it. And what’s worse, while it was always that way in the end, today most ideas start out that way.

If all of the problems today – World Hunger, War, Disease, Retirement Plans, the Environment – were solved I have no doubt that Urgent New Problems would arise at once. The United Nations might announce a hideous golf shoe shortage in Lower Slobbovia.

Fukayama was almost right; we are at the End of Ideology. It’s all about Money and the Power to control Money.