Will the rich get richer?

I was reading an article in the new Wired magazine called "Socialism - redefined". It looked at how people were pooling their talents for free in what were traditionally paying jobs - like Wikipedia instead of Encyclopedia Britannica. So I got thinking. If people don't have to work harder to earn more money to but things - if day to day items get less expensive and more common - think of i-Tunes instead of a record collection, or digital photos instead of paying for film; what will the average wage earner look like in 10 years? In the past, rising wages came from people making things - manufacturing items that other people bought. Now we find ourselves in the information age and sharing, renting and combining resources. For example, the average car is idle for 80 % of its life. What if we shared cars instead of owning them. The cars would be used to 100% of its capability, but we would only need 20% of them. Who is is going to make money on that? The person who organizes it, the person who designs the tools that allow us to share. In that sense, there will be fewer and fewer people making more money. How is this going to affect our life? Our tax system? Some things to think about.

ChrisZ

15 min