I stand corrected in part. Here is the difficult part to consider correctly.
If the wealth of the 1% were distributed among the rest of the world, the wealthy would no longer have it. This is important because the fact that the wealthy have wealth is the reason other people "obey" them. If the wealthy didn't have the wealth, the whole world would change. Why? Lack of incentive to do things to improve, because the ability to become exceedingly wealthy would no longer be a "thing." If it were a thing, the wealth wouldn't have been distributed from the wealthy in the first place.
So, it isn't as simple to think about as might appear at first. Without the wealthy people, the whole structure of things would have to change, including the mindsets of the poor people. Are we smart enough to envision what the world would be like under those circumstances?
That's an interesting and valid point. I'm going to end up meriting every damn post in this thread.
I would argue that monetary wealth is only a barometer of success because consumerism is so embedded in our society. We are conditioned to believe that the accumulation of monetary wealth is the primary goal in life. Further I would argue that the people who currently pursue money as the ultimate aim are not really pursuing money at all, they are pursuing power... it's just that in our societies, money equates to power. We don't live in democracies, we live in plutocracies where money rules and is the ultimate arbiter of success. Money is not the goal though, it is the route to the goal, which is power. The word 'obey' in your post is correct and helps to reveal what lies beneath money.
There will probably always be people who want power and prestige, but money doesn't have to be the path that leads to it. I'm not suggesting some unworkable communist utopia, merely that money is only powerful because we give it power; it has no inherent power of its own. Realistically there has to be a degree of inequality in order to give people something to strive for, but the inequality doesn't have to be so huge, and it certainly doesn't have to manifest as money or as the means to actually be able to get food and shelter and medicine and to survive. We can and should move beyond that.
As to what an achievable alternative could be, who knows? It is difficult to envisage something different because the current system has become so entrenched. As you say, the whole structure of things would have to change, including mindsets. It may be difficult, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
