Money will not bring you happiness, but I would rather cry in a Mercedes than a bus.
Neeko
I am not going to deny that there are many schools of thought when it comes to wealth and life. On one hand, some would argue that wealth does not bring happiness in life. On the other hand, some enlightened individuals would also say that wealth can only buy temporal happiness.
Personally, I do think that money is the source to happiness in more ways than we can imagine; However, for one to gain a substantial level of wealth, many must be poor.
Let me qualify that further, what I am trying to say is that wealth in this world is only valuable insofar that it is finite. Therefore, when one is rich to a point where he or she can survive without working for a few life times and others who work for a day’s wage, we can definitely detect some form of social economic issue. In this post, I would like to share my personal views on richness and poverty and how I make sense of it.
1. Wealth is derived from Value and Value is derived only from labour?
Labour is required to increase the value of a particular “raw material” to maximise its utility. In exchange for this labour we participate in, we are given some of this value which has been monetised by business owners. Seems like a perfect system.. but how did we arrive at the state of inequality in the world? Let me break it down further for clarity.
Labour is measured in many ways
In the past, the most basic measurement which is still used today is time. Using time as a measurement, you will be paid based on how many hours or days have worked at a company or business. This sounds fair however, some businesses are more efficient then others. This led to how wages differ overtime.
Risk as a justification for greater returns
Since businesses started in this world, businesses owners have been lauded for their courage as they will have to put their assets at risk. Due to this risk, many businesses failed and folded, leaving business owners in debt and sorrow. Apparently, there are also businesses which did well and resulting in their owners gaining great wealth and power.
I believe that we need to recognise both reasonable risk taking attitudes and efficiency as inherently valuable thus we can somehow arrive at the understanding that some people’s labour is worth a number of people’s work, and therefore commands higher salaries. The question is “how much more value can one generate? That brings us to the topic about ethics.
2. Wealth and Ethics
Are Wealth and Ethics unrelated in this world we live in? My personal answer is no. It is because the way the law works is that it is not wrong at all to keep all the money in your pocket knowing that many are dying due to poverty. The law which protects everyone’s private property supercedes even morality.
To reintroduce morality in the picture, there should be a cap of how rich one can get in one’s lifetime. This is only to ensure that no one is “immorally rich.” This warrants that one will never be greedy and accumulate wealth to no end.
Conclusion
At present times, I do feel that there is already pressure on the rich to help the poor. Contextually, we call that philanthropy and so far that is the only middle ground between “rich staying rich” and “helping the poor.”
