Is the middle class a poor upper class or a rich lower class?
We still talk of the upper class, the middle class and lower class. Where the middle class is either a rich form of the lower class or a poor form of the upper class.
But what about a consumer class? Is there in fact a consumer class that is spread across all the existing class structure and closing the feedback loop that drives capitalism? Some spend lots for little and some spend little for lots and that very often, both spend the same.
Universal Basic Income would be one such approach. Massive Attacks video is a good starting for thinking about these things.
Prevent money from deadend’ing in the accounts of the rich and wealth!
Also what does it matter if we print money, it always ends up at dead-end points, i.e., the rich. They can’t possibly spend all that money. So that means their money doesn’t get spent and won’t go around in the capitalist circle.
We need a system whereby the rich spend their money on the poor and needy in times of little; just as the poor and needy gave their money to the rich in times of plenty.
A kind of capitalism which has a builtin reset. If wealth accumulates with the rich, the rich must spend that wealth on those who gave them that wealth: the society. And this shouldn’t happen because of tax reasons, as much philanthropy happens today but because the wealth have a societal desire to do this.
Capitalism where the winners - i.e. the wealth - don’t take all but instead provide fo the needy and poor, else there will soon be no more players.
Sure Bill Gates has become a great philanthropist but on what does he spend his wealth? On find a malaria cure. Why not spent that money on providing free medical care for the poor? A far more direct and important solution.
The Babylonians cancelled all debt when a new king came to power. To quote from the article:
…it should be noted nonetheless that their rulers sought to maintain social cohesion by preventing the constitution of big private domains, and took measures to ensure that peasants enjoyed direct access to the land. They limited the rise of inequality while overseeing the development and maintenance of irrigation systems.
Herein lies the message: social cohesion by preventing social inequality.
Is consumption the final purpose of humans?
With everything automated and humans basically be replaceable, is consumption they only purpose left to humans? With more and more fields being replaced by people pushing buttons and there is no longer a requirement for any sort of lateral thinking and intelligences (or better said, very limited fields), does the majority of humans centre around consuming and being told by others what to consume?
In times of individualism there is no sense of sharing. So everyone buys the same products and doesn’t share their usage because they mistrust their neighbour. This leads to everyone buying the same under utilised products.