People will realize that things we care very much for are valuable.

OK, that may sound obvious. But then we remember that movie about the father who realizes he spent so much time at work that he missed his children’s childhood. You know the one.

And there is the point.

Not that men forget about their families. Or that there is one film about this concept. But that there are countless works of art which reveal this thing about us.

There are so many because we need them.

We need art. To remind us, of course. But we need it to teach us other things. About ourselves and each other. Life, living, and what it all means.

We need access to art and we need to make art.

Here’s where we say

• Art is expensive.
• People need to live.
• We need to pay people what they’re worth.

And we’ll also say

• Streaming prices are expensive.
• Companies spend a lot on the stuff we want for free.
• We need to personally invest in the stuff we like.

Here’s what economists keep saying

• Companies losing money need to cut expenses or raise prices.
• People aren’t going to pay higher prices.
• Creatives are too expensive.

Here is what I never hear.

• Why are all of the things that are most important to us worthless in our economy?
• We pretend making money off of money is what the economy is for—and the people who do it are fortunate and smart to exploit us.
• We let hedge fund managers and bankers destroy the livelihood of millions, pocket the profit, and pin the blame on workers and the public.

Here’s the prediction

At some point, people will realize that we can have nice things. And with that, art will be made and appreciated.

We’ll realize that things we value are worth investing in. Not only personally or privately, but publicly and communally.

We’ll realize that our investments in passing wealth on are better served anywhere else. Particularly in health and happiness of all people.

And of course we’ll realize that our incredible investment in bombs and extraction of minerals do more to line pockets than preserve our safety.

We’ll wake from our stupor and realize we’ve spent a whole life at the office. For what? So someone else can make money. And we can spend a day’s work on streaming services.