We are all wealthier than we think we are.
It seems in the process of observation that we do not measure wealth properly. At least we do not measure it completely, but only superficially. The counting of monetary units only looks at one side of it. Those units only represent what can be bought and the quality and quantity of that which can be bought limit the value of those units of money. This kind of reckoning does not take into account all the commodities that are available to be bought, all the utility that is available even from what we don’t own and the overall improvements of life that we enjoy.
Let’s do some thought exercises. We’ll say it’s 1850 and you have a million dollars. You can buy some nice clothes suitable for the time, fashionable and impressive to those people who are impressed by clothes. You can buy a nice house but not with hot and cold running water or central heat. You can entertain and have your own library but not a home theatre or even FM stereo radio. You can buy horses and a coach and hire a driver and livery boys to take care of them but no automobile and no interstate highway. (No automobile?! Egad!) No TV, no computers and no IMAX, etc. You can add endlessly to this list.
Now move forward to 1950. Now you can buy a car and drive it on pretty good roads. You can have hot, running water, indoor plumbing and go to the theatre and see spectacular, epic movies. You can fly from place to place in an airplane, which is a much faster way to travel than man has ever had and also kind of fun. Perhaps the biggest thing of all is that you have electricity with all the fabulous things electricity can do. You are much richer in 1950 than you were in 1850 even if you have less money in countable units. Your increased wealth comes from the increase, not in money, but in the things you can buy with it. Of course you still can’t buy a small, powerful computer and have 3D movies in your own house and you can’t have instant access to the vast, virtually endless world of information that we now take for granted in the form of the internet.
Now let’s go fast forward again to 2014. Think of how many things we use every day without thinking about them. Right now I am writing this little note on a laptop computer; in 1950 it would have been on a mechanical typewriter with sheets of paper that unforgivingly recorded every error and typo. It wouldn’t even give me its opinion on the spelling of every word as I type it. My computer does all of that and as we know very much more indeed. At half the monetary wealth of 1950 we are vastly richer in 2014. (Oh, I just paused to change the equalization of the music I’m listening to from the iTunes program on the same computer I’m typing on. O.K., I’m done with the sound adjustments and back to the keyboard now.)
The world is filled with appearances and most of them are constructed by people who want to deceive us for their own personal ends. As we grow older we become more and more aware of this melancholy fact. It’s all wrapped up in that enormous realm of human behavior known as propaganda. The idea that our wealth is measured only by the money in our bank accounts is a propaganda deceit. Let’s look at real wealth, where it comes from and who benefits from it.
Let’s say that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, which he did. Let’s also assume that invention was an instant sensation and economic success, which it was not, and that Tom immediately became fabulously wealthy, which he didn’t. We could envy Tom and whine and complain that wealth was being distributed unfairly. He has millions of dollars and all the rest of have is that crummy light bulb.
Crummy light bulb? Because of the light bulb we have had hours of useful time added to every day of our lives. And not just we; all the future generations will have the use of that light bulb and of all the additional knowledge and work that has been done in those extra hours of useful time. The value of that light bulb to humanity is literally immeasurable. And all Tom got for that and a host of other inventions was a crummy few million dollars, much later in life, which he could only enjoy while he was alive. You can’t take it with you, you know. But the benefits you can bestow on mankind can go on indefinitely. Every one of us is born into a world of wealth and prosperity that was just here waiting for us because the people who created it all could derive some benefit from their industry and genius. (If you are interested in the profits Mr. Edison made from his inventions see the essay titled, “Profit” on this web site.)
Consider just one, small, modern condition that we all take for granted. If you have a child and that child develops appendicitis you will not have to watch it die in agony. You can get it fixed. You can get it fixed without even a great deal of discomfort on the part of the child. What is that worth to you? What measure of wealth does that represent?
© 2026 Thomas A. Nelson Sr.
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