Modern economies create wealth. They also distribute it according to the political system in place at the time. Distribution of wealth is one of the most significant problems facing mankind in the 21st century. Greed causes suffering.

The prevailing market driven economic theory is that wealth is limited and the desire to consume wealth is unlimited. (If you don't believe this consider that there is one surgeon who is the best heart transplant surgeon. If you need a heart transplant you want the best. But he can only do so many procedures a year (say 500 for argument sake). So only 500 people get the best in that year. Which 500 get the best and who gets the worst? That's the general idea. You can apply it to rice, soap, perfume, air transport, hotel rooms, etc.)

The biggest problems with market driven economies comes when some individuals are driven out by events (economic downturn, plant closure, disability, natural disaster, etc) and others decide to opt out for whatever reasons (homeless, drug abuse, criminal, etc). Charities and government may intervene to provide for such individuals. The risk is that the intervention becomes institutionalized and multi-generational.

Another problem arises in the unequal distribution of wealth used as a motivator to promote creativity and hard work. If the inequality grows too great it may switch from being a motivator to being an insurmountable hurdle and demotivator potentially creating a caste system.

Problem: If you feed everyone you get more people (applies to nutrition, health care, civil engineering, almost anything that improves the human lot causes people to feel comfortable enough to reproduce). Some believe that this problem contains its own solution. Once the basics are assured people voluntarily slow their reproductive output. Children, rather than being the ultimate in old age insurance, become a drag on an affluent lifestyle.

Problem: wealthy coexisting with starving and not sharing (if they give everything away then they are starving and there are still wealthy people). Solutions: Few to none. The grand economic experiments like Capitalism, Socialism and Communism all have their shortcomings. Alternatives: Love one another is a great sentiment but has not been implemented widely enough to have the desired impact.

One possibility is much higher tax rates for the most affluent. An unintended consequence of this strategy is that the affluent simply move into a different taxing district (suburban flight) or that the desire / ability to become affluent in the first place is reduced with a corresponding decrease in competence and ingenuity.

Symptoms: Racism, war, pestilence.....