would it spoil some vast eternal plan?

When Tevye sings “If I were a rich man” his dream is to be rich: so rich he can waste money on stairs that go nowhere, so rich that even rich people come to him for advice, so rich it doesn’t matter if he is right or wrong.

If I were a rich man I wouldn't have to work hard

I'd build a big, tall house with rooms by the dozen Right in the middle of the town One long staircase just going up And one even longer coming down And one more leading nowhere, just for show

The most important men in town would come to fawn on me! They would ask me to advise them like a Solomon the Wise Posing problems that would cross a rabbi's eyes! And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong When you're rich, they think you really know!

Would it spoil some vast eternal plan If I were a wealthy man?

We don't need to burden the song with philosophical or theological weight it was never intended to support. But: it was written by a human being for the understanding of human beings who would find the human situation amusing. The value of good art is that it gives us insight into human nature. It is not inappropriate to look at good art to see what these insights are.

Being rich means spending money on things that are not actually needed to get by. A staircase that goes nowhere is a fun image of rich excess; the actual working out of it would be toys that serve no purpose either for function or for distraction. A reasonable evaluation of anything we buy is cost per use. A watch that costs $100 every time we wear it someplace nice makes the dinner quite a bit more expensive than the check shows. An expensive camera kit that averages to $20 a photo might mean it's cheaper to hire someone.

The particular example isn't so important as the concept: what is the actual square foot cost of the house? or the per mile cost of the car? or per use cost of the suit? shoes? purse? scarf? boat? luggage? Buying stuff to admire is actually quite expensive.

We need to get to the point. Rich people need to be regarded as rich. Maybe not overtly so, but truthfully: isn't it a bit annoying to be treated as not rich by someone who doesn't know you are? Isn't that actually the point of going out in nice clothes and jewelry and cars: to inform people who you are so they don't treat you as less?

"The customer is always right" makes the waiter the servant and the customer right no matter what is actually right. It's society in microcosm. The rich speak and expect it to come about. In the store, on the sidewalk, in the office, in court: the rich expect to be treated as rich and react in rich indignation when they're not.

The reason is: the rich truly think that after all they've spent on looking rich the least people can do is pay attention. The truly rich need the slightly less rich to not act above their level. All the rich regard the poor as worthy of pity but react badly when the poor do not rightly observe the higher level of the rich.

In fact, it does matter whether you're right or wrong. People get hurt when you're wrong and are too rich to care. Or notice.

Rich people make rules. Those rules inevitably favor the decisions they make because the rules are made to do exactly that. It's a closed loop. I decide, therefore whatever you say is irrelevant and I am right.

Actually, all people make rules for themselves. They have rules that no one tells them what to do in their private lives, how to raise their children, and how to spend their money. The difference between the rich and the poor is that the rules the rich make also apply to everyone below them. How they spend their money does not just affect their lives; it affects the lives of people on the lower levels as well.

Tell a poor person they should give and it is regarded as something strange, maybe a joke. Tell a rich person they should give and it is taken quite seriously: no joke. Unless you are ten times richer.

People at every level say the people below them have no right to say anything about their lives. But people at every level also say they have at least some right to tell people below them what they should do. Even it is only a small amount. The rich believe they are rich for a reason and the poor are poor for a reason. Only the richer can speak without offense.

Would it spoil some vast eternal plan if the poor were rich? Yes. The already-rich have proven that the vast eternal plan is spoiled by becoming rich.