(Foreward: A dear friend of mine encouraged me to write this. It took a couple of days to get the ideas down and get me thoughts together. I hope you enjoy it. And thank you to V a.k.a. “the forgottenblog1.)

The world’s last remaining stock market boomed. It was the only one left, because there was no one left to trade but them.

It had started as a whisper in boardrooms, a casual joke among the ultra-rich: “What if we just got rid of everyone else? The poors? The lowest of the low? What if it was just us elite billionaires?” They has always treated the rest of the population as a liability: wages to be cut, benefits to be slashes, lives to be extracted for profit. But then, someone finally asked the real question: Why not eliminate the expense entirely?

At first, they used the usual methods: starving out the poor through manipulated supply chains, forcing millions into homelessness while hoarding resources. Governments, long in their pockets, stood by. Then they accelerated the process. Bioengineered pandemics swept through the slums and working class neighborhoods, perfectly tailored to spare those who had access to the right treatments. Automated drones enforced curfews in the name of “public safety,” but only ever seemed to fire upon protestors. AI-controlled banking systems ensured that those without wealth found themselves unable to access even the most basic necessities.

Then came The Dividend.

It was announced through a simple memo, circulated among only the elite:

“Congratulations, shareholders. Effective immediately, the burden of the lower classes has been liquidated. Your assets will now be divided amongst the survivors.”

And just like that, the last of the workers were gone.

At first, they celebrated. The billionaires threw opulent parties in their isolated compounds, toasting to their genius. The world was finally efficient. No more whining about wages, no more regulations, no more taxes. They had reached the pinnacle of civilization: an Earth owned and operated by the few who truly mattered.

But soon, cracks began to show.

The automated factories still produced goods, but who would innovate, repair, and improve them? The fields of genetically modified crops stretched for miles, but the systems that maintained them required technicians–people who had been deemed expendable. The billionaires, so accustomed to being catered to, found themselves unable to do anything beyond shifting numbers on a screen.

Worse, the infighting began almost immediately. Without an external enemy, they turned on each other. One by one, they disappeared. Eliminated by poisoned wine, rigged self-driving cars, security drones that “malfunctioned.” Each death resulted in a wealth redistribution among the remaining few.

The final survivor sat alone in his penthouse, overlooking a silent, empty city.

The stock market was at an all-time high.

And there was no one left to spend a dime.