Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Imagine a blacksmith, living in an area with abundant forests and iron deposits. As they are in the state of nature, the trees and iron deposits are of little value to anyone. One can neither consume them nor use them
to produce other goods. But if a miner extracts the iron ore and a smelter refines it, if a lumberjack cuts down some trees and a carpenter refines them, if the blacksmith then takes the resultant wood and iron and combines them into a hammer-wealth has been produced. The hammer did not exist in the state of nature; it might have never existed were it not for the creative minds of each of the individuals who saw it as desirable and produced it. In the making of the hammer, wealth was created. The world now has one more hammer; everyone is potentially better off, and nobody is deprived of anything.
But what will happen if the local town council, under the zero-sum view of wealth, decides that the "distribution of wealth" is inequitable and seeks to remedy it by taking away the blacksmith's new hammer and giving it to the town beggar? The beggar, after all, does not have a hammer of his own, which implies that his "slice of the pie" is smaller. Will there be any reason for the blacksmith to produce any more hammers, knowing that they will be taken away from him and given to the "less fortunate," who will likely use them as weapons in drunken bar riots?"
"Only if the possibility of wealth's creation is recognized can the premises underlying capitalism be correct. Of course, it is quite elementary to recognize-if one observes overwhelming evidence for it in reality.
Does there exist more wealth now than there was in the Paleolithic Period? If not, what explains the colossal technologies that people during the Paleolithic Period did not have, or the presence of thousands of times more food now than existed then? Unless one would make the ludicrous assertion that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers drove automobiles while listening to iPods, one cannot support the notion of a static "economic pie.""
Trillions of dollars were REMOVED from the stock market, it didnt disappear. It was used to pay down debt, pay back home equities, and an awful lot of it went into the bond market. If I buy a stock from you for $10.00, that means I have a stock, you have my $10.00, its a revenue neutral transaction. If you take that $10.00 and choose to not buy another stock, but choose to pay down your mortgage, or some other debt, this doesnt mean the money was removed from society, it was simply spent elsewhere.
As for why is Gates wealth worth more than the entire value of america 150 years ago, thats because they print more money over time, but they dont do that to make people more wealthy, they do that because there are more people in society and so the government can create more debt.
"Imagine a blacksmith, living in an area with abundant forests and iron deposits. As they are in the state of nature, the trees and iron deposits are of little value to anyone. One can neither consume them nor use them
to produce other goods. But if a miner extracts the iron ore and a smelter refines it, if a lumberjack cuts down some trees and a carpenter refines them, if the blacksmith then takes the resultant wood and iron and combines them into a hammer-wealth has been produced. The hammer did not exist in the state of nature; it might have never existed were it not for the creative minds of each of the individuals who saw it as desirable and produced it. In the making of the hammer, wealth was created. The world now has one more hammer; everyone is potentially better off, and nobody is deprived of anything.
But what will happen if the local town council, under the zero-sum view of wealth, decides that the "distribution of wealth" is inequitable and seeks to remedy it by taking away the blacksmith's new hammer and giving it to the town beggar? The beggar, after all, does not have a hammer of his own, which implies that his "slice of the pie" is smaller. Will there be any reason for the blacksmith to produce any more hammers, knowing that they will be taken away from him and given to the "less fortunate," who will likely use them as weapons in drunken bar riots?"
"Only if the possibility of wealth's creation is recognized can the premises underlying capitalism be correct. Of course, it is quite elementary to recognize-if one observes overwhelming evidence for it in reality.
Does there exist more wealth now than there was in the Paleolithic Period? If not, what explains the colossal technologies that people during the Paleolithic Period did not have, or the presence of thousands of times more food now than existed then? Unless one would make the ludicrous assertion that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers drove automobiles while listening to iPods, one cannot support the notion of a static "economic pie.""
Major flaws with your analagy, just because the blacksmith wont create a new hammer, this doesnt mean someone else wont
If I see Mr Blacksmith getting rich, I'm going to takeup the blacksmith trade and become rich.
Furthermore, the posting discusses wealth redistribution, which is not the same as wealth creation.
Under your scenario, if they create another hammer, this creates competition for Mr Blacksmith, and thus lowers the cost of providing the service. it did NOT create more wealth, it just changed who got it and how much was transferred.
The people who sold their stocks silly They removed their money from the stock market to pay off debts, buy bonds, meet margin calls, pay back helocs being called, etc.
Actually, comparatively speaking, it is easier here than many places to become very wealthy legally. If course, a million doesn't go as far as it did when being a millionaire actually meant something. I think that status is actually billionaire, now.
What really made me open this thread was your subject line. It always intrigues me when someone makes a statement about what others think. I've been observing people as long as I have conscious memory and I've yet to know what one other person thinks, let alone an entire people.
Usually, and this OP is no different, I am disappointed to find that it is just one more person's skewed view of what others think, a projection of their thoughts about that group. The more accurate statement would be: "This is what I think about this group of people." And, when it comes to that, well it's interesting, but not all that informative -- except about the person making the statement.
In this case, it tells me the OP might have a challenge with envy.
That whole millionaire dream is just utterly childish in my view. If that is a person's motivation in life, I would not want to have anything to do with that person. I often think of that when I read on Yahoo etc. that there is a new list of the professions bound to make you rich. Anyone who lets income rule their lives, like for instance the decision which career to pursue, is a fool.
Becoming a millionaire or billionaire is easy. With a little advanced planning you can arrange to be born to a family already blessed with great wealth. Marrying into the family is far more difficult because they very effectively limit their children’s access to others of the same class.
Becoming a millionaire or billionaire is easy. With a little advanced planning you can arrange to be born to a family already blessed with great wealth. Marrying into the family is far more difficult because they very effectively limit their children’s access to others of the same class.
Or you can do what a lot of folks do. Invent something or provide a service that rewards you for your hard work. I know that's hard to fathom--actually earning money...but yeah, some people do it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
