The world economy, all of it, is totally broken. Not fit for purpose. Not worth saving.
Will it survive this crisis? Will we see a new model evolve? Don't hold your breath.

Reminder to Donald Trump: the most important people in this world are food producers. Blustering politicians aren't even on the list.
Reminder to Boris Johnson: one health worker is worth a hundred thousand wealth workers.

This seems a bit blinked and are there no other world leaders to give reminders to.

Unfortunately the vast majority of people live under this economic model and will will continue to need to.
This type of scaremongering is usually left to likes of piers morgan to peddle. There is a virus the world is struggling to cope with. We all have to hope it recovers and recovers quickly. Seriously quickly. And learn from it.

And there is no point in health workers if there are no wealth workers. Infact who would pay for the health workers without wealth? And who would produce the food and how would we all pay for it?

I think the point Mr Poolier is trying to make is that some people are more highly prized than others, despite them contributing very little to society.

We need to have a good look at how society was working because now the light has been shone it is clear that it is set up for the benefit of a very small number. Definitely needs changing.

The point Mr Poolier is making is that if a few people losing money leads to the collapse of society, as Trump is predicting if the quarantine continues, then the economy is not robust and has failed
Money was invented to simplify transactions. It was never supposed to be a commodity in its own right.
Mr Afar, I think your definition of wealth is not the same as mine

Humans evolved with no politicians, no economic science, and no billionaires. The way the world is now geared to monetary gain did not have to be inevitable.

no it didnt, but thats how its evolved. So unless you want the power grids to stop working and end television and top level sport as we know it, amongst other things, then its not going to change. And thank god for that. Because whats the alternative?

We can still have power grids and television and sport without the obscene levels of greed and inequality that have increased since the financial crash.

When those holding the reins finally have to come to grips with the impossibility of an infinitely expandable economy, don't worry, they'll find alternatives.
And so will sport and so will television, but no panic, they won't be addressing that in our lifetime. As for power grids, they are already finding alternatives.

The part of your post that I have highlighted is absolutely correct. The idea is totally and utterly impossible, and completely insane - as the bottom of the pyramid eventually requires an infinite number of thicker folk joining it to keep it going.

Unless of course they killed off all those at the bottom, and replaced them with machines.

Like maybe with some sort of killer virus...

If the world economy does fall apart, which it might. You can guarantee we'll be fighting over morsels while kernts like Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, Rupert Murdoch and Mike Ashley wank off on desert islands.

The rich get rich and the poorer get poorer. And it's skyrocketed in the last decade, especially in the UK. Hm, wonder why............

What a life-changer the next 12 months are going to be for many .

Have a listen to "Heartland" and "Beaten Generation" by The The, written best part of 40 years ago and never more apt than right now. Matt Johnson (no relation to our inglorious leader), way ahead of his time and one of the best songwriters of the modern era. If you like a good read, his father Eddie Johnson wrote a very entertaining book, "Tales From The Two Puddings" about his life as a London pub landlord in the 1960's.

Wealth workers you mean greedy bastards ?

What I actually meant was people who work with wealth as an end in itself without actually creating any.
Nobody is going to convince me a hedge fund manager is of any use whatsoever to anyone who isn't already wealthy.
Whereas farmers, miserable buggers though they are, provide us with products nobody can live without.

So yes, greedy bastards.

What is your position on investment bankers with large allotments?

Did you think a hedge fund was money for demarcating a cabbage patch?

Now you mention it I did wonder why so many of the rich were keen to help farmers with their boundaries. And the money involved did seem a lot for a few rows of bushes.

The global economy has been broken since at least 2008, & the slippery slope started in 1971 when USA abandoned the gold standard - since then it has been all downhill & the wealth gap between rich & poor has widened. USA will continue to fight to retain the US$ as the predominant reserve currency, whilst many other countries are already reducing, or trying to reduce their dependency on the US$.

I can't see the Rouble, Yuan, Bitcoin etc being considered as viable alternatives, & would anybody trust the IMF to come up with a solution ? It's an utter mess. Could the gold standard be revived ? Not if USA have anything to do about it, but as gold has been widely regarded as a store of value for hundreds of years, it's one of the few proven viable alternatives.

Yes, gold doesn't provide an income of itself, but thousand of ounces (let alone trillions) can't be plucked out of thin air at the whim of a central bank or politician

Passing interest !!!!