(ELI5) in a world where resources are (or at one point were) bountiful, why is money the driving force behind everything?

Question

Tons starving, but the cost of water is rising, we can’t source our own water because we’ve poisoned virtually every water supply. We torture our main food sources until the day they are slaughtered. Corporations own over half of the available single-family homes in the US alone.

Ads are relentless. the platforms that are our only hope for free speech have been watered down to a pay to play format.

Any one who has ever known pain or suffering knows this is unsustainable.

In: Economics

Answer 1

The decision-makers are *thoroughly* insulated from the pain and suffering. You can expect it to go on until they don’t find it rewarding anymore, and that would require some profound restructuring of society.