Do not steal

The financial crisis that erupted in 2008 caused a gigantic reshuffle of values. If we did not believe in the relativity of ownership before, we saw it demonstrated here.

One of the oldest ethical rules is "Do not steal". We can imagine it was an important rule a thousand years ago when material goods was scarce. A knife was probably very valuable.

But what about today? Is the rule still relevant? The price of a knife might be high one day, but the next day it is on sale. One day the bank has these billions and billions of dollars, the next day the computer screen shows other numbers.

The last some 20 years more individuals have become rich than ever before in human history. The big nations of India, China and Brazil are following the smaller nations like Taiwan and Hong Kong.

At the same time many remain in relative poverty, also within China, India and Brazil.

The principle for becoming rich is simple. By making others rich you get rich yourself. Bill Gates got rich by helping millions and millions of people around the world to be more or less rich with the help of Microsoft programs. In the financial sector, many have become rich by helping others invest their money.

When the sub prime loans in USA derailed and started making people poor and even homeless, the financial crisis snowballed.

So the conclusion is quite obvious: We get rich by helping others to be rich, and we get poor by making others poor. Stealing is still a bad thing.