The beginning of the realisation that wealth can engender quasi-religious respect has been attributed to British writer Ben Johnson, who wrote in 1616:
- "Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold,
- And almost every vice, almightie gold"[1]
- "The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty."
"The Almighty Dollar" is also the name of an Ozzy Osbourne song from the Black Rain album. The song argues that money and greed are destroying the planet by blinding people to problems such as global warming and pollution.
"Almighty Dollar" is also the name of a Devin The Dude song from the 2007 album Waitin' To Inhale. It is a lament both of a marijuana user's lack of money and the declining buying power of the U.S. dollar.