People in every age have coveted wealth, but few societies have lionized the entrepreneur as ours does. Aristocratic societies-and most societies have been aristocratic-have have tended to look down on acquisitiveness and to despise merchants. Modern capitalism, by contrast, has made wealth the highest value. Our entire social system has become an "economy"; no earlier society would have characterized itself thus. Profit is the highest social good. Consumerism has become the only universally available mode of participation in modern society. The work ethic has been replaced by the consumption ethic, the cathedral by the skyscraper, the hero by the billionaire, the saint by the executive, religion by ideology. The Kingdom of Mammon exercises constraint by invisible chains and drives its slaves with invisible prods. (How rare it is for rich people to say, "I have enough.") But Mammon is wiser in its way than the dictator, for money enslaves not by force but by love.*________________________/
*Walter Wink. Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Kindle Locations 814-819). Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added.)
Walter Wink (May 21, 1935 – May 10, 2012) was an American biblical scholar, theologian, and activist ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Wink