The key principle is: wealth accumulation is permitted, but excessive accumulation is restricted to prevent deprivation and economic exploitation.
This principle is not a call for absolute wealth equality, nor a call to prevent reasonable (non-excessive) accumulation of wealth, but rather a structured approach to ensuring that no individual or group hoards wealth at the expense of others’ basic needs and opportunities.
Wealth accumulation is not inherently prohibited. However, it must be within limits approved by the collective society, so as to ensure that excessive accumulation does not harm the broader community. Excessive wealth hoarding is a psychic disease, particularly when it arises from exploitation rather than productive contribution.
What the principle prevents is:
- Monopolization of wealth by a small elite.
- Hoarding of resources that creates economic disparity.
What the principle allows is:
- Individuals can accumulate wealth, but there are social restrictions to ensure it does not lead to excessive wealth accumulation that in turns leads to extreme inequality or exploitation.
Wealth distribution must be rational and equitable. Wealth distribution is not about absolute equality but rational allocation. In this sense, wealth belongs to all people collectively, and the economy must function in a way that ensures access to minimum necessities for all, and then allows people to acquire extra minimum amenities increasing to maximum amenities over time. To achieve this harmoniously, usufructuary or property rights are carved out of the collective property.
This approach prevents extreme wealth disparity that causes social instability and wealth being concentrated in the hands of a privileged few. Of course, people can earn wealth, and by that they can contribute to the collective good, but wealth should not be extracted through exploitative means. Importantly, the accumulation of wealth should not deprive others of their minimum necessities. In this way economic activity benefits everyone in society rather than concentrating resources in the hands of a few.
The principle is designed to prevent over-accumulation that leads to economic stratification and mass poverty, where a minority lives in affluence while the majority lacks basic needs.
