"We have created a situation where many people live in relative poverty while others have far more than they can ever hope to spend.

And I doubt whether the Archbish. of York was suggesting that we drag everyone down to the lower of these levels.  I'm afraid that, at least in the education arena, that is what you have espoused here tends to do, Martin.  Exactly what the right solution is, I'm not too sure: just none of the existing ones.