The Reset We Actually Need

 

Governments always pretend like taxing billionaires is some kind of delicate, risky operation. Like if we touch their money, the whole economy will fall apart. But that’s bullshit. Even if you tax them heavily, they’d still be insanely rich. Nothing about their day to day life would change. They’d still have more freedom, comfort and security than 99.9% of humanity. Yet the poor are stuck living on the edge, barely surviving and told to be patient, to work harder, to stop complaining. And that makes me question the whole narrative we’ve been fed. That there are enough resources for everyone, that we just need better policies. Maybe that’s not true. Maybe the idea of “abundance for all” is just a nice fantasy. Because the moment you imagine everyone actually living like a middle class Westerner with cars, flights, gadgets, endless consumption, the system cracks. Not because of money, but because of physical limits. Energy, water, clean air, raw materials. They’re not infinite. So maybe inequality isn’t just a side effect of capitalism. Maybe it’s a design feature. A way to keep most people frugal so a few can live without limits. That thought isn’t comforting, it’s dystopian. It means the rich aren’t just hoarding wealth, they’re hoarding the right to consume, to live freely, to move through the world without restriction. They get to live like kings because billions are stuck in survival mode. It’s not just about money, it’s about resource access and lifestyle permissions. And honestly, that makes it even more disgusting. What’s worse is the hypocrisy. If the rich really believed that resources were limited, that the planet was in crisis, that overconsumption was dangerous, they’d live like it. They’d cut back. They’d move into regular houses, take trains, stop showing off their ridiculous excess. But they don’t. They make speeches about climate change from private jets. They tell us to use paper straws while they burn thousands of gallons of fuel for a weekend yacht trip. They want the praise for being “aware” without making any actual sacrifice. It’s a performance. And they expect the rest of us to applaud. And here’s the thing. I’m not saying they should give away all their money. They can keep it, keep investing, keep growing the economy, but at least live like a normal human being. That’s the baseline. Live like an upper middle class person at most. Better yet, live like the middle class. Not because you have to, but because it’s the right thing to do in a world with real limits. That kind of example would shift culture way more than any charity project or flashy donation. And I get that if we just redistributed wealth and let everyone start consuming like even the western middle class, we’d have a whole new disaster on our hands. So redistribution isn’t the final goal, it’s the reset button. After that, we don’t go into consumer frenzy. We choose self-discipline. We treat money not as something to burn for instant gratification, but as leverage, something you use to build a better future. A tool for investment, not indulgence. In essence, it’s about flipping the whole model we’ve inherited. Instead of consuming first and then scrambling to fix the damage, we fix the resource bottlenecks first, like clean energy, food security, public transport, sustainable housing and only then raise everyone’s living standards in a way the planet can actually handle. Not all at once, not blindly, but gradually, with care. And I honestly believe most people could get behind that. Because this isn’t about forcing everyone into austerity forever. It’s about learning to value enough. Living simply by choice, not by desperation or force. Creating a world where dignity isn’t tied to how much you consume, but how you live and what you build. If we invested our collective energy into the right things, like lab grown food, fusion energy, open source medicine, education, green infrastructure, we could eventually create a world where abundance isn’t fake and where everyone gets to live decently without destroying the future. But none of that is possible if the people with the most power won’t make the first move. If they keep clinging to lifestyles that are wildly out of sync with the reality they claim to care about. They could lead by example, but they don’t. And I fear, they never will, because the game isn’t about solving problems, it’s about staying at the top. So yeah, I don’t want to hear another billionaire talking about saving the world until they start living like they actually want to. Live simply. Invest wisely. Stop pretending you care while burning through enough resources to support 500 families. We’re out of time for performative ethics. What we need now is restraint, responsibility and a complete redefinition of what success looks like.