January 3, 2024

Rich and Poor Today

Certainly, there are very wealthy individuals and others who are poor; there are disparities and injustices in our society. However, these problems cannot be addressed using the model proposed by Marx 150 years ago because our society is not the one imagined in those distant times.

Back then, it was thought that a few factory owners (capitalists) would become fewer and wealthier, while the rest of the population, the overwhelming majority (proletarians), would become even poorer. Thus, the system would necessarily collapse. None of this has happened.

At that time, people worked for 14 hours and couldn't afford enough food, to the extent that even young children had to work all day – inhumane conditions. Now, an employed worker has a standard of living unimaginable back then; some have more, others less, in an infinite continuum.

There are still poor individuals, but they constitute a small minority, certainly not the majority.