We work this hard because there's insufficient collective drive to provide for all before the wealthy are allowed to extract.

If 2 people both need something to survive, then collectively the group needs to produce 2 of those things. But if 1 of them demands 1000 of that thing, then collectively they need to produce 1001 of that thing to satisfy the demand.

The _problem_ is that the demand for the extra 999 is given equal weight and competes for production resources vs the 2 that are actually needed instead of explicitly prioritizing the 2 and then letting the 999 come from a secondary market of post-needs-fulfillment labor. Right now if the group produces only the needed 2, then most of the time the person who only wants the 1 that they need won't get anything at all, and in many cases that means they starve and die.

When the consequence of collectively producing less than the total sum demanded by the wealthy is that some people will then starve and die, that hangs like an inverse sword of damocles over the heads of the poor and middle class, always threatening those who can't just buy their way out into laboring more than would be otherwise needed.

The very obvious to me solution is to structurally prioritize meeting everyone's common needs for food/water, shelter, and medical care first before then satisfying the desires of the rich who want more. That way rich people can still get all their private jets and fancy cars, but they'll need to pay more to convince people that the loss of their leisure time is worthwhile instead of everyone in the underclass living under constant threat for survival.

Personally I think the constant political drumbeat to have more jobs instead of literally anyone trying to maximize collective leisure time is the greatest tragedy of modern capitalism. It's always jobs jobs jobs instead of needs and rest.

Upvote from me. I am proposing something on these lines, I call it "Basic Post-Scarcity", where basic needs production and maintainance get fully automated and work becomes optional: https://lorenzopieri.com/post_scarcity/.