hi motley
the missing word is caballero. the saying means money talks

Gracias Eddy,
You are wonderful. I could have read the story for 2 weeks & never come up with that.
Could you give something close to a literal translation? I may be the only one in class that has it correct.

i have already said it. it means "MONEY TALKS"

That's the meaning, the literal is
Mr. Money is a powerful gentleman.
I should have been able to figure out the literal myself, but sometimes the word order gives me a mental block.

sorry, didn't quite read your first reply correctly. i normally never bother with the literal meanings as 1) they don't make any sense and 2) they generally confuse me. hope your spanish teacher is impressed.

Hi, "Poderoso caballero es Don Dinero" is a poem from Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas.

The literal helps me sort things out & after I get that, it usually makes some sense to me.

Jorge, I found that poem during my search, a very long poem. It's also a song

<http://www.youtube.com/watch'v=0NZDg5L9-nY>

The literal translation is correct, but the context in which it is used is the key to the real meaning. "Money talks" as well as "money is king" are just two possibilities. Look at the context of use. In any case the Spanish used to start this thread will be full understood by native speakers and the rest of us may have to figure it out long after the conversation is over.
Good luck on your studies.

When I was checking out U-Tube for the song, I saw news stories using it.

This is a popular saying in Mexico. In this case Don does refer to Sir or Mr.

a literal translation would be:

"Powerful; is Mr. Money"

The idea is quite the same as that of the phrase "Money is power"