Jag tvivlar på att de flesta Hobbits anser sig vara rika. Trots allt fanns det många med meniala eller bara halvkvalificerade jobb. Gaffer och Sam var trädgårdsmästare, vi ser bruksägare och en stark jordbrukssektor:
They do not and did not understand or like machines more
complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with
tools.
Deras fysiska yrken inkluderade:
millers, smiths,
ropers, and cartwrights, and others of that sort;
Bagginsna var rika, men de var vad som skulle vara aristokratin - plus Bilbos guld från hans resor gjorde inte ont. Banden som helhet var rika men bodde i ett mycket stort gemensamt område och en enskild tog skulle inte vara rik på något sätt:
Sometimes, as in the case of the Tooks of Great Smials,
or the Brandybucks of Brandy Hall, many generations of relatives lived in (comparative) peace
together in one ancestral and many-tunnelled mansion.
Det var verkligen stackars Hobbits:
Actually in the Shire in Bilbo's days it was, as a rule, only the richest
and the poorest Hobbits that maintained the old custom. The poorest went on living in burrows of
the most primitive kind, mere holes indeed, with only one window or none; while the well-to-do
still constructed more luxurious versions of the simple diggings of old.
Men i allmänhet Hobbits som en var välbärgad på grund av riket i landet där Shire var:
the Hobbits had again become accustomed to plenty. The land was rich and kindly, and
though it had long been deserted when they entered it, it had before been well tilled, and there
the king had once had many farms, cornlands, vineyards, and woods.
Sammantaget fanns det en stark känsla av samhälle som innebar att man stödde och skaffade sig andra, vilket skulle ha lånat sig till begreppet att dela rikedom efter behov:
Their faces were as a rule good-natured rather
than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, red-cheeked, with mouths apt to laughter, and to eating and
drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests
at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and
delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted.
En stabil civilisation och starka familjeobligationer hjälpte också idén att ge andra:
The Hobbits named it the Shire, as the region of the
authority of their Thain, and a district of well-ordered business; and there in that pleasant
comer of the world they plied their well-ordered business of living.
...
Families for the most part managed their
own affairs. Growing food and eating it occupied most of their time. In other matters they were,
as a rule, generous and not greedy, but contented and moderate, so that estates, farms, workshops,
and small trades tended to remain unchanged for generations.
Så i stort sett var Hobbiton och Shire nästan en utopi. Goda meningsfulla och väl avsedda, mat och andra nödvändigheter tillhandahölls av de starka familjeobligationerna, om någon skulle gå på svåra tider (bevittna Frodos antagande av Bilbo som ett annat exempel).
Alla citat som tagits från Ringsherrens prolog.