Well... there’s nothing innately immoral about wealth, or virtuous about frugality. I’m broke, but in terms of sheer physical luxury, I live better than a medieval baron (although my flat is a lot smaller than a castle, and no-one’s trembling at my commands.) If everyone in the world was a millionaire – then so what? It’s comparative wealth and consumption that’s the issue – particularly in the light of environmental constraints.
Global poverty is a symptom of global wealth – the riches of the few, no matter how hard they’ve worked, haven’t simply appeared from nowhere... any more than the wealth of a Victorian mill owner came from nowhere. Profits are created at the base of the global labour pyramid, and the only reason such lifestyles are available to anyone is because the majority are paid a pittance for their hard work.
