Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

There’s nothing morally or ethically wrong with wealth inequality, or any kind of inequality for that matter; but at the extremes of capitalism, it becomes problematic. Money is artificial; it’s an accounting of things that have no real value because they can be taken away so easily, as compared to experiences, relationships, knowledge & creativity, that can’t. This distortion of reality is possible because money is imaginary; it only exists if people imagine it exists. If there was no money, life would continue. In fact, there are many nations in history whose money evaporated because no one imagined it was worth anything anymore. Those countries had a short period of adjustment, but no lives were lost, and for the vast majority of their people, nothing much changed. The reason capitalism has such a good track record for progressing a society is because it fits perfectly into existing human motivations. The truth is, avarice is common, and no amount of wealth is too much, so given the chance, wealth will concentrate. Avarice pushes the economy in a positive direction right up until extreme wealth stratification inevitability occurs, then the majority of the people who have no wealth will revolt in some way. Many people think God is imaginary. In the comparison between money and God, one leads to affluence & influence, and the other brings solace & forgiveness. If people have a choice, they’ll pick the former, even though the latter is more useful because only a small fraction of people will achieve great imaginary wealth, while everyone will at one time or another need the succor of an imaginary god.