The same thing happened to the Confederate dollar. The Confederacy printed money to pay its bills and buy weapons. In many ways, the Civil War was lost because of “bad money.”
The U.S. government printed the “greenback” to pay for the Civil War. If the North had lost, the “greenback” would have followed the Confederate dollar into the trash can.
Today, if the U.S. government keeps printing today’s “greenbacks,” they, too, may be as worthless as the Continental and Confederate dollars.
Q: What happens if the dollar goes to zero?
A: It means savers will be the biggest losers and those who work for money will have lost the battle. Their wealth will be gone. I always remind myself that a German person could be a millionaire in 1918 and wiped out by 1923.
And that’s why Lesson One in Rich Dad Poor Dad is The Rich Don’t Work for Money.
Q: If the rich don’t work for money, what do the rich work for?
A: That is what this book—and most of my books and games—are about. Many people need a second chance to rethink about what they work for.
Q: What do I need to learn?
A: We will start with the past.
Q: Why the past?
A: Because it’s from the past that we can see the future. From the past, you will learn how the rich and powerful steal our wealth via our money.
In the following chapters, you will learn how the rich and powerful have ripped us off via a Cash Heist. If you understand how the Cash Heist works, you will have a better chance to make smarter choices in the present for a more prosperous and secure future.
Q: Will everyone have a prosperous and secure future?
A: No, unfortunately. I’m afraid not.
Q: Why?
A: Because most people are still in the past. If they are stuck in the past, they will not understand Rich Dad’s Lesson One… The Rich Don’t Work for Money.
Today, most people are too busy working for money, working hard to pay bills and save enough for the future. They will not understand Lesson One unless they are willing to take the time to first understand the past.
A second chance will do little good for people stuck in the past. As the saying goes, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” When it comes to money, many people are insane.
Since we must start with the past to see the future, are you ready to move into the past? If your answer was “Yes” please read on.
Q: One last question: If money was designed to make people poor, to steal their wealth, then whom does money make rich?
A: The rich… the rich who do not work for money… the rich who control the game of money.
Q: How long has the game been going on?
A: The game of money has been going on for as long as humans have walked the earth. Humans have always wanted to enslave others or take what others have. It’s not a new game. The rich have been playing the game for a very long time.
If it is your turn to learn the game of money, the game the rich play, then this is your second chance.
THE MAN WHO COULD SEE THE FUTURE
“Most of my advances were by mistake. You uncover what is when you get rid of what isn’t.”
– R. Buckminster Fuller
In the summer of 1967, a classmate and I hitchhiked from New York City to Montreal, Canada. At the time, Andy Andreasen and I were both 20-year-old students attending the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York. We were hitchhiking to Montreal to see the future.
Montreal was the site for Expo 67, the World’s Fair dedicated to the future. The centerpiece of the World’s Fair was the U.S. pavilion, a massive geodesic dome that could be seen for miles. The creator of the dome was Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller, considered to be one of the greatest geniuses of our time.
Dr. Fuller had a reputation as a futurist and was often called “Grandfather of the Future.” It seemed appropriate that the U.S. government had chosen Dr. Fuller’s dome, a structure that represented the future, to be the U.S. Pavilion.
Reprinted with permission of The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller
Dr. Fuller, or “Bucky” as many called him, was an enigma; he was someone who could not be defined. Harvard University claims him as one of their more prominent alums, yet Bucky did not graduate from Harvard. Although Fuller never graduated from college, he was awarded 47 honorary degrees over his lifetime.
The AIA, the American Institute of Architects, considers him to be one of the world’s leading architects. Bucky was not an architect by training, yet his buildings are found all over the world. In the lobby of the AIA headquarters, a bust of Fuller is prominently displayed.
He is considered one of the most accomplished Americans in history, having more than 2,000 patents after his name.
Fuller authored many books ranging from science and philosophy to poetry. President Ronald Reagan awarded Bucky the Presidential Freedom Medal in 1982, and he was once considered for the Nobel Prize.
Although extremely accomplished, Bucky often referred to himself as “just a little guy.”
Poor Dad and Bucky
It was my father, the person I refer to as my “poor dad,” who first introduced me to Dr. Fuller. In the late 1950s, while I was still in elementary school, my dad and I would sit for hours building Bucky’s models out of glue and sticks. We created the tetrahedrons, octahedrons, and icosahedrons that Fuller said were “the building blocks of the Universe.” My poor dad and Bucky had a lot in common. Both were extremely bright men who thrived in the world of academics, especially math, science, and design. Both men were committed to a better world, a world that worked for everyone. Both men dedicated their lives to serving humanity and world peace.
In 1964, when Dr. Fuller made the cover of Time magazine, my dad was ecstatic.
From Time Magazine January 10, 1964 © 1964 Time, Inc. Used under license.
Standing in the Future
In 1967, Andy and I, both Bucky devotees, could not wait to visit the U.S. Pavilion and stand inside Fuller’s massive dome. The feeling inside the dome was magical, a surreal environment of peace and possibilities. I never dreamed that one day I would actually study with the “Grandfather of the Future.”
In 1981, I was invited to spend a week studying with Dr. Fuller at a lodge outside of Lake Tahoe, California. The title of the conference was “The Future of Business.” It was a week that forever changed