Money = life?

I understand that this isn't something we have discussed recently, but I feel the need to blog about this since this can be connected to human nature. Why is it that we are so fascinated with the idea of money? Is it true that money literally makes the world go 'round? I know and understand that we need money to survive, because in this day and age buying things is just the trend. No one hunts and gathers so money is the only way by which we can get our necessities, but is it something that we need to kill and hurt others for? If our daily needs are being met do humans have to be so enslaved to the "green master?" I know the economy right now is in horrible shape and we are in the midst of a recession and looking at the stock prices is just depressing, however why do we need to hurt each other for money? Is it because we are enslaved to our desires, that when we see that there is a possibility of it not being met we just snap and result to immoral acts.
In this case I guess one may not say that we are free. Since the 12th grade studying Kant and Thoreau, I know that we are enslaved to our desires and wants. As humans, its hard to only meet needs because we look at our wants as needs. Think of it, as humans could we do the experiment David Henry Thoreau would we survive? Can we live in the woods away from technology and do our own hunting, cooking, and weaving of clothes? It's interesting that some people live through money and superficial things. When are we going to be free from the illusions of our happiness? When are we going to step out of the cave and into the sunlight? When are we going to live a truly happy life?
The reason this topic came to my mind is that just two or three days ago I was going through a news article online and I saw that a bus driver in my city was killed due to an issue with money. He was stabbed in the chest because he wouldn't give a man on the bus (who didn't pay because he had an insufficient fare on his metro card) a transfer to go onto another bus. The bus driver didn't deserve to lose his life, it was only done because the man didn't have any money and he was denied something. When will things like this stop. A connection between money (or any other superficial thing) and violence can be made. Look at it, in the poor neighborhoods violence and robbery seem to be higher than in well off neighborhoods. Is money and material things that important? Remember material things are not forever. When you die you aren't able to take your 50 million dollars with you. The Bible also says a lot about material objects, it all will pass away someday!