It is such a dark realization that what causes so much quality of life increases is not productivity or technology but legislation and policy.
And that’s how we got Prosperity Gospel: rich folk trying to justify their lazy asses hoarding wealth and complaining about the people who actually do the work wanting fair compensation for their time and effort.
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 6 days ago
Prosperity Gospel is a bit older than that. There was a time when people thought that being rich or becoming rich was a direct blessing from god… ironically the people who really first disputed that in Europe were the Dutch, whose trade and double-entry accounting laid the foundation of modern capitalism.
I should mention that in 1001 Arabian Nights, at least in the story of Sinbad the Sailor, Sinbad (as an old man telling his story to a young man coincidentally named Sinbad as well) that his fortune was more luck than anything. At least he acknowledged that.