To enlarge on that a little:

Notice, I said that the economy and economics is, among other things, about power. Not talking about electricity there, but influence, including sometimes compulsive influence. That's where the undesirable aspect of money comes in.

Money is about power: The power to get into a movie, the power to command the labor of others, the power to order and pay for a gourmet-restaurant meal rather than having to settle for a Big Mac, the power to obtain the best medical care for our families.

The big problem, as I see it, is that eventually an individual doesn't really need more power (money) to make a high-class, comfortable life.
How many Rolls Royces do you really need? How many luxury mansions? But by the time you get there, it's often a way of life to scramble for more, more--partly by habit, partly as a way of satisfying atavistic urges to impress and control that have been with us since the cave man and before, when we were tree dwelling primates.

Dave Oesterreich