We Can't All Be Rich: People Need to Need Money

Not everyone can be rich. At the same time, if everybody was rich, the world would simply stop functioning. No matter how much anyone rails against the classes in society, the classes are all necessary parts of it all working the way it needs to, and the way that it should work. The classes are all a part of a well oiled machine.

We all want to be rich, and all too often we think it is unfair when such a small portion of the world is rich while the rest of us duke it out trying to scrounge up whatever we can of what's left just to make ends meet.

The reality is that we all play an important role in it all working. Take something away and things just fall apart.

Think of it like the fire triangle, if you will. In order for fire to exist it requires three elements. Heat, oxygen, and fuel. If you take away any one of these three elements you cannot have fire. Fire cannot function unless all three elements are present.

I hear people say all the time, "Wouldn't it be grand if we could all be rich?" On the surface that sounds nice. The reality is that riches would be worthless if we all were. Because part of what makes the world we live in what it is, is the need for money to live and function in it.

In an odd sort of way I have heard one of the selling points of cryptocurrency as being a path toward taking all of the power and control from the rich and giving it back to the people.

It is a noble idea. But does it work? Can it work? Can people just have money for nothing in the world? Can we really take another path and tell our bosses to simply take their jobs and shove them?

"Sorry, boss. We found a better way and we don't need your money anymore."

Think about what this actually means for a second or two. In fact, give it a good five seconds to sink in.

What is the value of money if we cannot get the things that we need in order to live? If at the end of the day we are all rich and do not need to work to get our money, who makes the things we want and need?

If you did not need the money, would you decide to become a plumber to fix someone's broken toilet? If you did not need the money, would you decide to go into the construction trades to build a house for someone? If you did not need the money, would you consider farming the cows to supply one's beef for dinner? If you did not need the money, would you consider driving the truck that brings the goods to a store's shelves?

Who would build the things we need? Who would run the businesses and the factories? Who would till the fields? Who would tend the power lines to make sure the lights stayed on? Who would toss your sheets at the fancy resort and stir your umbrella cocktails so you could enjoy sitting on the beachfront enjoying all the money you did not have to work for?

We can all be rich. In other words, we can all have the opportunity to be rich. But in a functioning society it serves no purpose if everyone is rich. If there are not people on all levels of the economic totem pole, doing their part to make society function, then none of it matters at all.

And in reality, for all the money we would have, the playing field finally leveled and everyone having tons of money to spend, we would have to work harder than we have ever had to work in our lives. Because we would all have to fend for ourselves.

There would be no plumber to fix our toilet. We'd have to figure this out on our own. In fact, there'd likely eventually be no toilet, because no one would make the toilet. There'd be no plumbing because no one would maintain the plumbing and no one would supply the water.

In fact, in a world where there was no need to make money, no need for people to be on the lower rungs who need the money and find jobs to get it, a system like this would toss us right back into the stone ages.

It may not seem fair to some that some have to work very hard and others can afford to work less. But if we want society to work, and if we want to have anything to enjoy for the labors we pursue to get through it all, we need people in this world who need the money so they are willing to go out and provide for all of the things and needs our money can buy.

The reality is, that for all of our desire to level the field and make a better life for everyone. If you take away the need for money, and the need to work for it, ultimately the survival of everyone becomes much more difficult. Much more challenging. Much more impossible.

Life, in the end, would not become easier. It would become harder. And for all of the money we had at our disposal it would not matter. We would not spend our days on the beach living the good life each and every day. Because we'd be too busy hunting and gardening and just doing whatever is necessary to provide for our own survival, with no one else looking for, or needing the money to help us to do that.

Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user MustangJoe. Gears Cogs Machine - Free photo on Pixabay