The Thin Line Between Self-Depreciation and Self-Parody

There's been some talk in the blogs I read about how "spite" motivates rich people's purchases [e.g.]. I think the motives you give to the rich depend a lot on whether you consider yourself rich, which most people don't. If you live in America, though, geographically and historically, you are very rich. Comparatively speaking, I look like Bill Gates to the rest of the world. Therefore, every purchase I make above a subsitence level is extravagant. Most likely, given this format, this analysis extends to you.

Now, I believe that the world economy is not zero-sum. Even further, I believe that scarcities which matter (food, water, shelter, and to a limited extent, health and education) are not caused by resource limitations, but by market inefficiencies. For example, people don't starve because of a lack of food, but because evil governments starve their people. Hypothetically speaking, I don't believe there will ever be a famine free world because I believe people are evil, and so I don't believe that Utopia is possible. That aside, I believe that the existence of wealthy isn't the problem, and therefore, that wealth redistribution isn't going to solve the problems of scarcity. Admittedly, this belief is self-serving, but that doesn't mean it isn't right.
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*PS by moi.
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random word for this blog item, since I've decided to keep track of them: vqciu