Non-sense

Poverty is a much debate issue but not a lot of people worry about the issue of wealth.  In the Western world it is widely accepted that wealth is a desired state.  The rich and famous are envied by the rest of us mortals.  If only we can have money to flaunt.  If only we had a second or third mansion.  If only we can be fortunate enough to be richer than a small African country.  Or a large African country for that matter.

It is not that being excessively rich is a awful state from which the rich should be rescued.  It just feels so unnecessary: why on earth do they need ALL those earthly possessions?  Worst of all is the time to maintain the fortune.  Days and nights spent at work, stress and financial pressure, traffic upon traffic.  The rich don't have any time and the poor don't have any money.  It seems to me that both can be happier if they share the work.

If the economy is a cake and everybody just get a slice, it would mean that being excessively rich cause poverty somewhere else.  The solution to this always comes in the form of a progressive tax system.  The problem with this is tax that it is bad; no one likes it and the rich is still spending night and day at the office.

Some great minds such as British philosopher Bertrand Russel and economists from the New Economic Foundation went one step further.  Don't redivide the income with tax, just redivide the work.  One extreme is Timothy Ferriss that wrote The 4-Hour Workweek.  Working only four hours a week is a bit extreme; after all work should not be something you avoid above all else, it is suppose to be fulfilling life calling.  But if the rich and super rich works less hours per week and get less money accordingly; there will be an excess of work to be done and salaries to be payed.

Now, that seems nice... supply and demand! The rich works less and supply extra work and we know the poor is in urgent demand.  The poor supply time (as they have a lot of free time), which the rich demands, oh so, desperately!  That is one market that can surely deliver!