Almighty dollar is an idiom often used to satirize an obsession for material wealth (the phrase implies that money is a kind of deity). The phrase is commonly attributed to Washington Irving, who used it in the story "The Creole Village", which was published in the November 1836 issue of The Knickerbocker magazine: Edward Bulwer-Lytton is often credited with coining the related phrase "pursuit of the almighty dollar", which he used in the novel The Coming Race, published in 1871. More obscure uses of the phrase can be found as far back as 1852, however.
"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 from 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.
