It’s both. The mere fact that there are people with billions of dollars to throw around means a large amount of the world’s productive capacity is spent catering to the whims of billionaires when it could instead be spent on useful things for ordinary people. And because money is inseparable from politics, billionaires can more or less directly bend government policies to their will, greatly hindering anyone else from having a real say in government policy.
If the needs and desires of the many were satiated and society was arranged to prioritize each individuals well being/contentedness it wouldn’t matter if one individual had more.
That’s a really big “if”, especially when you consider how billionaires actively use their influence to maintain an underclass by fighting against government policies that would help lower-class people become middle-class.
It’s both. The mere fact that there are people with billions of dollars to throw around means a large amount of the world’s productive capacity is spent catering to the whims of billionaires when it could instead be spent on useful things for ordinary people. And because money is inseparable from politics, billionaires can more or less directly bend government policies to their will, greatly hindering anyone else from having a real say in government policy.
If the needs and desires of the many were satiated and society was arranged to prioritize each individuals well being/contentedness it wouldn’t matter if one individual had more.
That’s a really big “if”, especially when you consider how billionaires actively use their influence to maintain an underclass by fighting against government policies that would help lower-class people become middle-class.
See deprive people of their health and livelihood