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16 min read

The Lottery of Utopia Economics: Why Culture Blocks a Better Future

Explore how cultural values, economic inequality, and corporate greed shape the possibility of a utopian economy. From progressive taxes and Modern Monetary Theory to the role of artists and societal change, this article examines realistic paths to sustainability, fairness, and human well-being.
The Lottery of Utopia Economics: Why Culture Blocks a Better Future
Photo by Anne Nygård / Unsplash

Our cultures stand in the way of utopian economies. You can have the brightest analytic minds conjuring logical plans, but economic ideas are bound to fail without a holistic approach.

But what the hell do I know? I’m not an economist.

As Mike Sowden from Everything Is Amazing tells us, you don’t need to be an expert to write about a topic.

Furthermore, economics is not a science. It doesn’t take an expert economist to get things right. In fact, it usually takes an expert economist to get things wrong.

Economists Getting It Wrong: Famous Failures

History is full of expert predictions that collapsed under reality.

  • Actively managed stock mutual funds: Managers of 2,862 funds studied by S&P performed even worse than a blindfolded monkey. Dow Jones Indices didn’t do as well as the hypothetical monkey (serial coin flipper), who beat them in several other tests, too. (CNBC)
  • Belgium without a government: Belgium had no government for over 15 months. Yet, in the last quarter of 2011, its economy somehow managed to outperform those of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, and Switzerland. (Business Insider)
  • 1929 Wall Street crash: Irving Fisher, an influential economist whose theories still underpin modern economics, claimed that “stock prices have reached ‘what looks like a permanently high plateau.’” Three days later, the entire US economy collapsed. (BlueSky)
  • 2008 financial crisis: I don’t need to spill any ink on this one.

This list could go on forever, but the point is this: economists, bereft of human understanding and brimming with unwarranted self-confidence, often get things wrong.

That said, many economists are brilliant, benevolent beings willing to support my life’s project.

Why Economists Often Get It Wrong

Economic theories are bound to rational models. Unfortunately, humans are far from rational. Like everyone else, economists aren’t immune to cognitive biases and subconscious influences:

  • Confirmation bias – People seek and interpret information in ways that confirm their existing beliefs. (Yes, this is exactly what I fell victim to with those four points you just read.)
  • Anchoring – Economists often anchor their predictions to previous forecasts or models, even when they no longer reflect reality.
  • Groupthink – Working in shared-belief environments reinforces narrow viewpoints.
  • Subconscious decision-making – Even something as simple as handing out hand sanitizer can push people toward more conservative decisions. (Toronto Star)
  • Loss aversion – Like all of us, economists feel losses more deeply than equivalent gains, skewing judgment.

When we understand how bias and irrationality shape economic decision-making, it becomes easier to see why expert models fail—and why utopian economics requires more than theory.

Degrowth vs. Green Growth

One popular idea is that we need to “degrow” the economy.

Elle Griffin’s argument essentially goes like this: since companies can now get more value from intangible assets (software, licenses, patents, trademarks) than from tangible assets (food, books, medicine, housing), the economy can continue to grow without harming the environment.

Sounds good—but reality isn’t so simple.

The ICT (Information Communication Technology) industry already accounts for 2–3% of global emissions, and analysts agree ICT emissions won’t shrink without massive political and industrial action. (Patterns, Elsevier)

Examples:

  • Streaming music produces higher carbon emissions than buying CDs. (Euronews)
  • Bitcoin mining may generate 65.4 megatonnes of CO₂ per year—similar to the emissions of Greece. (The Guardian)
  • Big Tech & e-waste: Companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple commit to “net zero” while simultaneously fueling global e-waste. (Green Matters)

Proponents of endless growth argue that clean energy and better recycling will eventually fix these issues. But when profit is the top priority, even so-called green companies become destructive and corrupt.

Examples of corruption in the “green economy”:

Even nuclear power is underused in many countries, written off as “too expensive.”

The Dark Side of Intangible Assets

To ordinary citizens, hedge funds feel shadowy and strange—because they control many intangible assets we can’t see or touch. These massive firms manage close to $2.2 trillion.

They have almost no restrictions beyond the law and thrive on advantages unavailable to the public:

“They do it by hiring the best and the brightest… They do it by trying to know everything about whatever they are trading. A country bans election polling before voting? No problem—hedge funds will hire their own private pollsters.”
— Chris Arnade, The Guardian

Many rely on high-frequency trading (HFTs):

  • HFTs amplify volatility, sometimes causing flash crashes.
  • They fragment markets, making true conditions harder to gauge.
  • They enjoy unfair advantages with privileged access to real-time data.

In other words, hedge funds and HFTs destroyed what little integrity financial markets still had.

The Digital Commodification Trap

I believe we should spend more time on experiences and art. But when economies shift from tangible goods to intangible ones, even those experiences and art become digitized and commodified.

We retreat into our phones, which research suggests can make us:

  • less social
  • more forgetful
  • prone to addiction
  • sleepless
  • and even depressed (The Lighthouse).

Of course, I make my living (or lack thereof) online, so I’m not advocating for a return to caves. Instead, I’m seeking ways to combine the online and physical worlds meaningfully.

We must choose:

  • knowledge over raw information
  • community over followers
  • diversity over echo chambers

Culture Before Economics

So how the hell do we actually do that?

Naomi Klein, in This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, argues we can transition away from fossil fuels by:

  • challenging corporate power
  • revitalizing local economies
  • reclaiming democracy

Like Klein and Elle Griffin, I’m not calling for total degrowth or dismantling capitalism. What we need is Green Growth: decoupling economic growth from environmental destruction through renewable energy, resource efficiency, and prioritizing human well-being.

The metric must change. Growth should no longer mean Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at any cost. Instead, growth should mean:

  • sustainability
  • equity
  • stronger communities

The Problem of Inequality

To create a utopia, we must confront wealth distribution. The problem isn’t always wealth itself, but its concentration.

As Elle Griffin notes in “An alternative to ‘tax the rich’”, it’s the distribution that matters.

OECD Data on Inequality

  • In the 1980s, the richest 10% in OECD countries earned 7× more than the poorest 10%. Today, it’s nearly 10× more.
  • In 2012, the richest 10% controlled half of all household wealth, while the top 1% held 18%. The poorest 40%? Just 3%. (OECD)

CEO Pay Gone Wild

  • Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460%. (EPI)
  • In 2022, CEOs were paid 344× more than the average worker. (EPI)

Working “344× harder” or being “344× smarter” is impossible. Yet the system rewards executives as if merit scaled that way.

Lessons From the Nordics

Social democracies offer a path forward—if paired with cultural change.

Nordic countries consistently rank highest in:

  • life satisfaction
  • freedom
  • low poverty rates

I wrote more about this in Debunking Chomsky’s Simplistic Narratives About The War in Ukraine.

The secret? Culture.

Sweden’s concept of lagom—“just the right amount”—helps egalitarian policies succeed. The term originates from Viking times: laget om (“around to the group”), describing how much mead or soup to take when passing the bowl. (ScandiKitchen)

But even the Nordics aren’t utopias. Michael Booth’s “Dark Lands: The Grim Truth Behind the 'Scandinavian Miracle’” points out:

  • Denmark has the second-highest antidepressant use (after Iceland).
  • Denmark also holds the record for the highest private debt worldwide.
  • Poverty rates there have doubled in a decade.
  • Norway granted asylum to less than half of applicants in 2013.
  • Finland has the highest murder rate in Western Europe and ranks third in global gun ownership (after the US and Yemen).

Rethinking Taxes: VAT, Income Brackets, and a Wealth Cap

High Taxes, Number Games, and a Better VAT

Although their culture gives egalitarian laws and regulations a chance, these places are far from utopian. Let’s take a quick look at some quotes from Michael Booth’s “Dark Lands: The Grim Truth Behind the 'Scandinavian Miracle’” published in the Guardian.

Take the Danes, for instance. True, they claim to be the happiest people in the world, but why is there no mention of the fact that they are second only to Iceland when it comes to consuming antidepressants?

The Danes also have the highest level of private debt in the world.

The proportion of people below the poverty line has doubled over the last decade. Denmark is becoming a nation divided, essentially, between the places which have a branch of Sticks'n'Sushi (Copenhagen) and the rest. Denmark's provinces have become a social dumping ground for non-western immigrants, the elderly, the unemployed and the unemployable.

Though 2013 saw a record number of asylum applications to Norway, it granted asylum to fewer than half of them.

Finland ranks third in global gun ownership, behind only America and Yemen, and has the highest murder rate in Western Europe.

The list keeps going. But let’s look on the bright side—high taxes!

Huh?

Here comes the number games.

Scandinavian countries typically have a value-added tax (VAT) system instead of a traditional sales tax. There’s all different, but here’s the average.

Standard rate (most non-essential items): 25%

Reduced rate (for essential goods and services—food, medical supplies, and public transportation): 12%

Zero rate (for certain goods and services): 0%

However, my utopia would look like this.

Standard rate (most non-essential items): 15%

Reduced rate (for essential goods and services): 5%

Luxury rate (any brand that charges over 3 times the average for that same good or service): 50%.

Look, if your self-esteem is low enough to pay $500 for a t-shirt because of the logo, then I want to help you. You’ll feel so much better about yourself knowing that money went to helping others.

Against Tax Havens (Sorry, Nomads)

And I know some fellow nomads want a world that only has a sales tax so they can support the countries where they are temporarily living without paying income tax—that’s called a tax haven. They’re great for corrupt officials, drug dealers, cybercriminals, terrorist financiers, human traffickers, and libertarians. But they suck for the poor. Why the hell should someone struggling to make ends meet pay $3.20 for a Coca-Cola (Bermuda prices) so a rich criminal can avoid their income tax?

So yes, we need income tax in a utopia.

A Sliding Income Tax Scale (And Why It’s Not Enough)

Creating an average sliding tax scale for Scandinavian countries requires some generalizations, as tax systems can vary significantly among these countries. However, I—okay, fine, ChatGPT—created an average sliding scale based on their progressive tax systems.

Up to $20,000: 10%

$20,001 - $40,000: 20%

$40,001 - $60,000: 30%

$60,001 - $100,000: 40%

$100,001 - $200,000: 50%

Over $200,000: 55%

Individuals with incomes up to $20,000 pay a 10% tax rate on their total income.

Those earning between $20,001 and $40,000 pay a 20% tax rate on the portion of their income that falls within this bracket.

The pattern continues for higher income brackets, with each bracket paying a higher tax percentage on the income within that bracket.

Except, this isn’t that utopian. The psychopathic hoarding billionaires are still bending us all over with this system.

So, like those in the treasury department, I pulled some outdated percentages out of ass—but my numbers don’t benefit the ultra-rich.

Up to $20,000: 10%

$20,001 - $40,000: 15%

$40,001 - $60,000: 20%

$60,001 - $100,000: 30%

$100,001 - $200,000: 40%

$200,000 - $300,000: 50%

Over $400,000: 95%

Do you want a system based on merit? There ya go. Let’s say the average employee makes $60,000 working 32 hours a week—I should mention that 32-hour work weeks are the norm in this utopia based on the higher productivity success stories from the four-day workweek experiments20.

Look, a CEO can still make seven times as much as the average person. And since it’s impossible to work seven times as hard (that means you work 32 hours a day), this system is still not 100% fair or based on merit. But it’s a start.

Stocks, Property, and a Hard Wealth Cap

Okay, so what about stocks, property, and so on? Isn’t that where a billionaire’s money is anyway?

Yup, that’s why nobody can have more than three lifetimes’ worth of an average employee’s salary in the bank, stocks, bonds, property or anything else that contributes to their net worth. The average lifespan is 73. Let’s round that up to 80 since it keeps going up. 80 (years) x 60 000 (average annual income) x 3 (lifetimes) = $14 400 000.

14 400 000 dollars! Nobody should ever want that amount of money. But why three lifetimes? Well, based on the $60,000, Elon Musk has enough for 312,500 lifetimes, so moving it down to one seemed a bit drastic.

I know we should stop reducing human lives to number games, but I’m playing the economist here. So, let’s continue.

Currency, Wage Indexation, and the Nightmare We Live In

Against a One-Currency World (But With Wage Indexation)

These numbers would change with inflation (It’s October 2023 as I write this). By the way, I’m basing it on USD because it’s the most globally understood currency.

I’m not suggesting a one-currency world. However, I’d suggest an international law that requires all countries that want to trade to use wage indexation.

Indexation means adjusting a price, wage, or other value based on changes in another price or composite indicator of prices. It can be used to adjust for the effects of inflation, cost of living, or input prices over time, or to adjust for different prices and costs in different geographic areas.

When considering wages in both the public and private sectors, only Luxembourg, Belgium, Cyprus, and Malta have implemented some degree of automatic indexation. In Luxembourg and Belgium, this system grants a proportional wage increase that entirely offsets the effects of inflation.

“But That Will Increase the Deficit!”

Yes, but I imagine a utopian economy where billionaires are taxed billions like us thousandaires are taxed thousands. The government will have more than enough money for indexation and social programs.

But let’s be a little less dreamy for a second and look at the nightmare we live in now.

Pinker vs. Reality

Nolan, stop being a downer. Listen to new enlightenment thinkers to see how much we’ve improved.

I have, and we need people like Steven Pinker to see how far we’ve come, but to create a better world, we must think about how far we still need to go. 47% of human beings live on $6.85 a day so those in developed nations—including the Nordic ones—can exploit resources to get cheaper stuff.

Oh, come on, at least we’re not filling arenas to watch people die these days. You’re right; thanks to Erik Hoel, I found out we’re doing that online now.22

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT): A Utopian Alternative?

When the government spends more money than it receives, it should be weighed against the size of the economy. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) proponents say, “There are no constraints on the federal budget.” You can learn more about MMT by clicking the footnote link, but some of the key points are as follows:

  • MMT argues that the primary concern for governments should not be balancing budgets but ensuring full employment and price stability.
  • MMT suggests that budget deficits (government spending exceeding revenue) are not inherently bad and can be necessary to stimulate economic growth.
  • MMT proposes a Job Guarantee program where the government acts as an employer of last resort, providing employment opportunities to anyone willing and able to work at a fixed wage.
  • MMT acknowledges the risk of inflation but argues that it can be managed through taxation, hence taxing billionaires billions.

But does it work? Nobody knows! That’s why expert economists often get things wrong.

What I do know is that there’s a better chance for MMT to create an economic utopia than the greedy scumbags who push the trickle-down effect (tax breaks and benefits for corporations, so the money “trickles down” to everyone else).

Cultural Change: The Key to a Utopian Economy

Look, I know this might never happen. I’m just having fun learning about tax systems and creating a utopia in my head. What we really need is a worldwide cultural change. Stop the rampant individualism and craving for more stuff, speed, and convenience festering across the globe. You can have all the social democracy regulations you want, but if the culture is full of people pursuing self-interest, you get corruption.

We need cultural change. And for that, we need artists and influential people—those in power know that.

The Role of Artists vs. Celebrities

Many pop stars are just mass hallucinations orchestrated by corporate greed and clever marketing tactics. Stop celebrating people with a lifestyle that would take 12.9 earths to sustain24 if we copied them. They plant the seeds with formulaic structures, let the roots take hold by supporting social movements that don’t dismantle power structures, and let the vines grow to monstrous sizes, blocking the view of the wasteland created by the consumerist hell they endorse.

Celebrities have a responsibility to lead by example, but some of these people aren’t leaders; they’re puppets with influence. Buying 20 million dollar homes with 5-car garages and flying in private jets is not the example we need. It’s the exact opposite.

We need real artists, people brave enough to stand up to the system that is making us sick. We need artists who burn the masks of materialism, not those who wear and decorate them with hubris. We need artists who overwhelm us with the truth, confront us with the uncomfortable, and submerge us in the sublime.

We need artists willing to shape the culture instead of being shaped by the culture. We need people to shake us at our core so we become the change we want to see. Then, and only then, will we have a chance at creating a utopia.

Utopia vs. Dystopia: Subjective but Actionable

Then again, what the hell do I know? One man’s utopia is another man’s dystopia.

The takeaway? Cultural values and behaviours must evolve alongside economic models. You can have the perfect progressive tax system, wage indexation, and Modern Monetary Theory implemented—but if society still prioritizes individual greed and mindless consumption, the utopia will fail.

We need education, awareness, and conscious cultural shaping to complement economic reforms. Without this, even the best policies are powerless.

Call to Action

Share, discuss, and reflect. Encourage dialogue about cultural change, equitable economics, and the responsibility of artists and leaders. The more perspectives we integrate, the closer we get to building systems that prioritize human well-being, sustainability, and fairness.

Tips

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References

Published by:

Nolan Yuma

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