There is a possible way out, in that wealth is not a fixed resource. A ponzi scheme treats it as if it is at best that, in that it does nothing to grow it. Eco

There is a possible way out, in that wealth is not a fixed resource. A ponzi scheme treats it as if it is at best that, in that it does nothing to grow it. Economies can grow it, however, as shown by the history of the last six centuries, in which global wealth grew even on a per-capita basis, dispite all the dumb things we did during that time to destroy it. What we need to do is to give people more wealth-generating and wealth-preserving work to do (which includes educating them to their full potential at sociey's cost.) There's plenty of scope for that just in ameliorating and preparing for the coming climate crisis. The biggest obstacles to this (and they are very big) are the difficulty of doing this without having projects subverted to enrich a tiny minority, and the unwillingness of those with some wealth to support such projects on the grounds that they will take away what little they have.