The question everyone asks is simple: "If jobs go away, where does money come from?"

It's the right question. But the answer most people expect—some government program handing out checks—is dangerously incomplete. A world where everyone's income depends on government transfers is a world where government has absolute power. We need something more robust.

Enter the Pyramid of Prosperity: a five-layer framework for how households will receive income in a post-labor world. The key insight is that ownership replaces wages. Instead of selling your time, you own shares in the productive economy and receive returns.

Start at the bottom with Layer 1: Universals. This is your floor—Universal Basic Income, Universal Healthcare, universal services that ensure no one falls below a minimum standard. It's important, but it's just the foundation.

Layer 2: Public Assets. Here's where it gets interesting. Sovereign wealth funds—like Norway's $1.7 trillion fund—invest on behalf of all citizens. The returns flow back as dividends. You're not receiving charity; you're receiving your share of collectively owned capital. Add data trusts that monetize the collective value we create online, and resource royalties from public lands.

The pattern continues upward through collective private ownership (cooperatives, ESOPs, DAOs), individual assets (baby bonds, personal portfolios), and yes, some residual wages for protected human work at the top.

The beauty of this structure? Every mechanism already exists somewhere. Norway has the sovereign wealth fund. Alaska has the citizen dividend. Spain has Mondragon's worker cooperatives. We're not inventing new ideas—we're combining proven mechanisms into a coherent system.