Proof that the Catholic Church, or some other Institution, will eventually own all the Wealth on Earth

Proof that the Catholic Church, or some other Institution, will eventually own all the Wealth on Earth

For this exercise we define wealth as any tangible assets that have value.  This is a common view of wealth.  In this exercise, ownership means control.  If you own the wealth you control the wealth.   Again, this is a common understanding.  An Institution is any incorporated group of people, subject to membership rules, that is self perpetuating and controls wealth.

Proof that the Catholic Church, or some other Institution, will eventually own all the wealth on Earth:

1) Both Humans and Institutions gather wealth during their life.

2) Humans are forced to divest their wealth when they die.

3) Institutions never die.  Their membership is replaced as offices become vacant.

4) Institutions NEVER divest their wealth voluntarily

5) Institutions continue to gather wealth through generations and generations of human existence, while people are continually dying and having their accumulated wealth be recirculated.

6) Presently the Catholic Church controls more wealth than any other institution, or entity, on Earth.

7) The Catholic Church will continue to accumulate wealth slowly over time.   Occasional political upheavals may force divestiture of some of this wealth, but the majority will remain untouched and continue to grow.

8) Eventually, all wealth on Earth will be controlled by a few huge institutions and all humanity will be slaves to these power structures.  The humans will no longer control any wealth, but will themselves be controlled by the institutions, much like peasants were “owned” by the Aristocracy, or the Catholic Church, in the Middle Ages in Europe.  We sometimes forget that the Church had vast land holdings that were worked by peasants.

9) Ultimately, a single institution will arise that consumes all rival institutions.  All wealth on Earth will be controlled by this institution.  This institution will probably be the Catholic Church, because it is presently the largest economic entity on Earth.  But it may be another institution that is organized very similarly.   This will not happen in our lifetimes or even in the foreseeable future, but it seems inevitable; like the heat death of the entire Universe, due to Entropy, that is the inevitable consequence of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, in the science of Thermodynamics.

Notes:

To me this exercise illustrates the real danger of treating institutions as individuals.  In the USA corporations are treated by law as individuals, but they are not individuals and they have tremendous advantage over individuals as guaranteed by law. 

1) Corporations never die, they are consumed by other corporations and their wealth is transferred from one institution to another.  Corporate wealth is rarely transferred back to private ownership, because corporations outlive people.

2) In 1900 only 15% of USA American citizens were employed by corporations; the rest were self-employed and masters of their own  lives.  Today, over 80% of USA American citizens are employed by corporations. 

3) When all employment is privatized and corporatized, then there will be no more freedom in USA America.  We will all be virtual slaves of the corporate economic structure.  The Bill of Rights does not apply to the corporate workplace or factory floor. This has already been decided by the courts.

4) Only those people who own corporate stock certificates will be free humans and in control of their own fate.  All other people on Earth will be owned by the corporations in a form of contractual servitude that will resemble the Feudalism in Europe.  The difference will be that these new slaves will not be bound by agricultural territory; but the new slaves will be bound by their economic  function.  There will be no escape.

Additional Note:

Don’t bequeath wealth to institutions in your last will and testament.  Institutions do NOT behave in the interest of humanity.  Institutions behave in their own self-interest which is frequently at the expense of humanity.

Make sure you leave your wealth to individual people and not to institutions.  Leaving wealth to institutions only helps to hasten the inevitable slavery that your descendants will experience.

Keep people free.   Don’t give wealth to any institutions at all.

Copyright© 2014 William A. Schaeffer