You can't really make the argument that people are buying things theydon't value. The mere fact that they are exchanging their labour for these goods proves they value the items.
Now, you and I may not value three big screen TVs and a framed IROC print, you and I may prefer to place money into a retirement fund or a good real estate investment. But everyone is different and it's a requirement for a healthy and free market to let people spend their money on what they want. The moment you start choosing what people can spend their money on, that's when you kill a whole future raft of startup companies.
If we define real wealth as hard assets like land, factories and valuables, then by definition not everyone can have these. It is impossible by the very nature of what makes these things valuable.
In the meantime, life expextancy is longer than ever, even a mum on welfare lives a life with more comforts than a medieval king. There will always be people with less than others. You cannot eliminate this. What you want to avoid is absolute poverty, not relative.
Now, you and I may not value three big screen TVs and a framed IROC print, you and I may prefer to place money into a retirement fund or a good real estate investment. But everyone is different and it's a requirement for a healthy and free market to let people spend their money on what they want. The moment you start choosing what people can spend their money on, that's when you kill a whole future raft of startup companies.
If we define real wealth as hard assets like land, factories and valuables, then by definition not everyone can have these. It is impossible by the very nature of what makes these things valuable.
In the meantime, life expextancy is longer than ever, even a mum on welfare lives a life with more comforts than a medieval king. There will always be people with less than others. You cannot eliminate this. What you want to avoid is absolute poverty, not relative.