I was raised with a feverish work ethic typical of Australian working-class families preparing their kids to survive and build independent lives. Hard, honest work was morally superior to silver platters. At 10, I cleaned cars, collected cans. At 15, I ran checkouts. I got educated, and the rest is history.

Illustration by Dionne GainCredit:

But a growth in accumulated wealth is now outcompeting work incomes, undermining the dignity of work.

With trillions to be inherited in Australia within the next 20 years by those who have done nothing to receive that wealth, the very notion that hard work is the key to prosperity is being undone.

I have long viewed with scorn the wealthiest who could escape work. They had an air of calm, a freedom alien to those with only their brains and brawn to get ahead. But if I flogged myself hard enough, maybe I’d keep pace with them in the same workplaces?

But while my ilk was toiling and stashing pennies, the asset class was surging ahead, cruising in the slipstream of property accumulation and lax taxes. We worked alongside each other, but I didn’t stand a chance.

Australia has a wealth glut problem. Ranked by wealth, the top 20 per cent of households – about two million households - are hoarding 64 per cent of wealth in property, shares and other assets. Double the number of households, the bottom 40 per cent, own just 6 per cent of wealth. Two million middling households own just 11 per cent. Now, since most retirees don’t need to draw on savings, life-changing bounties will be bestowed upon some and not others, turbocharging inequality.

Meanwhile, working Australians are being squeezed on income tax. Their........

© The Sydney Morning Herald