FT Alphaville Goes Long Form: "Avoiding the monetary road to serfdom"

From FTA:

Sometimes it’s the simplest observations that stand out.

For example, when it comes to the question of money, perhaps  popular singing sensation ABBA said it best:

I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay. Ain’t it sad. And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me. That’s too bad. In my dreams I have a plan. If I got me a wealthy man. I wouldn’t have to work at all, I’d fool around and have a ball… Money, money, money. Must be funny. In the rich man’s world. Money, money, money. Always sunny. In the rich man’s world.

The point here is that wealth is intrinsically linked to earnings/productivity. You work all night, you work all day, but unless you earn more than your immediate cost of living you are nobody “in a rich man’s world”.
Consequently, in the rich man’s world, it’s accumulated cash over and above your cost of living that counts most. What’s more, if you happen to stumble by some accumulated cash, you might not even have to work at all.
(And no, we’re not about to go all communist. Please bear with us.)

So, what happens when the situation is flipped around? That is, when accumulated cash begins to suffer an erosion effect and is no longer a reliable alternative to work?

Arguably, it creates ‘a poor man’s world’, in which those with jobs are wealthier than those with savings.

Which brings us back to the original point. That money is intrinsically linked to earnings....MORE

Here's ABBA's Money, Money, Money: