I kinda went on a little research spree on economics this afternoon but at one point I figured it’s probably good to know if it’s possible for, say, at least 98% of people on earth to live a happy fulfilled life at all.
I know there’s plenty of people who’d be more than happy to have literally nothing more than a house, food and water, but that still leaves a whole lot of people who want other things in life.
Do we have any metrics or data on wether the earth can sustain roughly 8 billion humans?
Money is a placeholder for labor. If you distribute all their money, the same labor needs to get done.
It absolutely helps, but it can’t make everyone rich because by definition “rich” requires living off the work of others. (I’m using the word rich losely to mean comfortable.) What it can do is raise the bottom 10% out of poverty.
The US consumes at a level unsustainable by the Earth. Bezos’s billions doesn’t mean he consumes a billion cheeseburgers a day. His personal waste is huge but tiny when compared the the total of 350m Americans.
Rich and comfortable are definitely not synonyms. Rich is a relative descriptor that basically means to have more than other people, so obviously, we can’t all be rich. Comfortable is a state descriptor - shelter, food & clothing needs met, children provided for, time and resources for relaxation - everyone can have that.
No.
First of all, it takes just as much labor to make a product that lasts fifty years as it does to make a product that lasts five years. Most things today are designed to fall apart and be replaced. If we made cars and appliances that lasted, there’d be less demand for new things. A lot of the current economy is designed to be wasteful.
Second, they’ve already detected asteroids that are loaded with all the minerals we’d need. Back at the height of the Veitnam War the US was launching a Gemini mission about six times a year. Getting people up there might take a decade, but the payoff would be worth it.
Finally, OP didn’t say ‘rich’ they said ‘comfortable.’
We do. Cars especially, today, are vastly more efficient, reliable, longer-lived, and safer than cars even 30 years ago. Appliances, too.
People tend to forget about that part. Money is what is exchanged with you for your labor and then you exchange that for goods. Sure an increase in funds would mean a bunch of people could live better for a while. But then trash would pile up, waste water would become a monumental issue. A lot of gross, vile, disgusting, and extremely necessary work would suddenly stop getting done.
Everyone likes to pretend that they’d be willing to step up and tackle those jobs. But they really won’t. I’m positive that the percentage of people willing to do those jobs for enough resources to live comfortably is in the single digits. I know damn sure the amount of doctors willing to work for a one bedroom, one car, and enough food living situation is in the single digits.
There are people picking up trash, cleaning restrooms, changing bed pans, repairing infrastructure, teaching children how to read, giving legal aid and providing medical care all for free. It’s called volunteering and millions upon millions upon millions of people do it every day. Hospitals, schools, soup kitchens, nature conservancies, youth sports, and museums all rely heavily upon volunteers. Organizations like Habit for Humanity, Doctors without boarders, Red Cross, Red Crescent, Meals on Wheels, Second Harvest, and Rotary International are largely staffed by volunteers. Those who give of themselves know this to be true.