How much money is enough money for one person

Each to their own, but some of the views here seem a bit US/1st world myopic. At one stage there was probably enough wealth for everyone to be comfortable. Although that time may have passed. I always used to believe it was a virtue to work very hard. Now I wonder if that isn't brainwashing by those who reap most of the benefits.

The wealthiest 8 people on our planet share the same wealth as the bottom 3.6 billion who live in poverty. That's almost half of the population of earth, who struggle and die in their 10's of thousands each day from conditions stemming from this. There is something very wrong with this picture.

There seems to have been a concerted effort for a very long time even in developed nations to strip the working classes of their most basic rights (quite successfully). Though eventually manufacturing has largely shifted to developing nations anyway, to exploit the poor conditions and cheap labour.

It seems only the middle classes who work hard for their wealth. Many of the rich are neither overly intelligent, nor hard working.

Capitalism and "democracy" are now failures IMO. They have generally become plutocracies that serve the needs of those at the top, first and foremost.

There is also quite a disconnect between economists/politicians and science. Our present economic system is not only unsustainable long term, but underneath it all is ruining our planet. It will collapse eventually and our civilisation will collapse with it. The possibility that our species might no longer exist past this century has been expressed by otherwise conservative mainstream scientists, for good reason.

An interesting perspective from a somewhat honest "billionaire".

www.ted.com...

It looks like we are heading for quite a few problems re wealth distribution. Technology is simply taking jobs away from people. This is set to increase massively in the near term. It won't only be the menial jobs either (it will affect lawyers and doctors). Though it won't affect the very wealthy, but eventually there will be enough people affected that civil unrest will grow. There is already talk among certain academics of the necessity of giving a basic income to everyone.