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But there is also a second way to make money. That’s the rentier way: by leveraging control over something that already exists, such as land, knowledge, or money, to increase your wealth. You produce nothing, yet profit nonetheless. By definition, the rentier makes his living at others’ expense, using his power to claim economic benefit.
For those who know their history, the term “rentier” conjures associations with heirs to estates, such as the 19th century’s large class of useless rentiers, well-described by the French economist Thomas Piketty. These days, that class is making a comeback. (Ironically, however, conservative politicians adamantly defend the rentier’s right to lounge around, deeming inheritance tax to be the height of unfairness.) But there are also other ways of rent-seeking. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, from big pharma to the lobby machines in Washington and Westminster, zoom in and you’ll see rentiers everywhere. Studies conducted by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft...15/sdn1513.pdf - not exactly leftist thinktanks – have revealed that much of the financial sector has become downright parasitic. How instead of creating wealth, they gobble it up whole.
Most content seems to be inspired from Mein Kampf..And true
It's pervasive. A middleman - who perhaps adds no value to either the producer or the end-user, can nevertheless add lots of jobs. A good example is car-dealerships. Another example concerns the thorny issue of government regulation... it might create more overhead and headaches for industry, but it creates a plethora of new jobs, first in the public-sector to enforce the regulations, second in industry itself, to pursue compliance, and third, in ancillary industries such as law and accounting.
Perhaps this is the answer to automation supplanting human workers, be it on the factory floor or in medicine or in transportation... everyone becomes a middleman, charged with writing code, or enforcing it, or interpreting it, or litigating against it. Thus the healthcare industry becomes less a matter of discovering new drugs, or administering vaccines, or operating on cancer-patients, but in shuffling paperwork.
Now take the example of the gentleman who frequently posts here, decrying his parlous housing-condition, which reminds me of a Soviet communal apartment, minus the surly housewives bickering in the kitchen, or the heating-radiator in the hallway stuck on "hot" on muggy July nights. Is the tenant holding the primary lease, who sublets to the other residents, a parasitical middleman, or a productive one? Well, if his behavior generates visits from city inspectors, if it keeps accountants busy, if it causes literal headaches for the occupants, who must then visit medical providers and receive prescription medicines, well, arguably this parasitical middleman is a hero, producing economic activity that otherwise would have been dormant.
So, people who provide money for loans, knowledge to increase our quality of life and other things, and provide a roof over other people's heads, are the biggest freeloaders?
The parasitic financial sector has spent millions over the last 5 decades on an epic PR blitz to convince people that they earn their ill gotten boodle, and serve an important function in society, by "allocating capital to its best uses".
Like, you know, billions in NINJA mortgages and trillions in complex casino bets on these same worthless assets.
The parasitic financial sector has spent millions over the last 5 decades on an epic PR blitz to convince people that they earn their ill gotten boodle, and serve an important function in society, by "allocating capital to its best uses".
Like, you know, billions in NINJA mortgages and trillions in complex casino bets on these same worthless assets.
So live outside the financial sector. Use only cash. Or better yet, barter.
Studies conducted by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft...15/sdn1513.pdf - not exactly leftist thinktanks – have revealed that much of the financial sector has become downright parasitic. How instead of creating wealth, they gobble it up whole.
Yes, the leech sucks up quite a lot: "At its peak in 2006, the financial services sector contributed 8.3 percent to US GDP, compared to 4.9 percent in 1980 and 2.8 percent in 1950." So a 3x higher % since 1950.
Finance isn't inherently bad. It serves an important function when it supports productive investment. But it's become rather a "creative" way to siphon off a significant percentage of national wealth.
But there is also a second way to make money. That’s the rentier way: by leveraging control over something that already exists, such as land, knowledge, or money, to increase your wealth. You produce nothing, yet profit nonetheless. By definition, the rentier makes his living at others’ expense, using his power to claim economic benefit.
For those who know their history, the term “rentier” conjures associations with heirs to estates, such as the 19th century’s large class of useless rentiers, well-described by the French economist Thomas Piketty. These days, that class is making a comeback. (Ironically, however, conservative politicians adamantly defend the rentier’s right to lounge around, deeming inheritance tax to be the height of unfairness.) But there are also other ways of rent-seeking. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, from big pharma to the lobby machines in Washington and Westminster, zoom in and you’ll see rentiers everywhere. Studies conducted by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft...15/sdn1513.pdf - not exactly leftist thinktanks – have revealed that much of the financial sector has become downright parasitic. How instead of creating wealth, they gobble it up whole.
So to cut through the crap, what are you advocating for? 100% estate tax to redistribute the wealth from the families of the successful to who, you and the homeless? Dismantling of the world-wide banking system and replacing it with Soviet-style communism or 1950's style Israeli Kibbutz property ownership?
Without the possibility of building a legacy for your family, what really is the point of excelling beyond the basic needs of yourself? Maybe you are bitter because you came from a family who will leave you nothing, but that doesn't stop the rest of the world from wanting to leave their family better off than it was before.
Without the possibility of building a legacy for your family, what really is the point of excelling beyond the basic needs of yourself?
There may be a few who pretend they are building a legacy for their families, but that isn't normal. Most are building a legacy for themselves. And increasingly as they do so, they cause more overall damage than good.
And for the great majority of people the reason for excelling is for the joy of doing something you are good at. If you want be doing it for someone, then do it for everyone.
Capitalism has always needed to be highly regulated to be functional. The period from the early 30s to late 70s was when it worked the best in the US. It would be instructive to review the differences between policies then vs now.
A virtuous war would be one that rewards society’s honest earners and productive contributors, while punishing society’s predators, pirates, and parasites—all without regard to anyone’s income level. It is a target-rich environment that includes anyone (of any income level) who is cheating to win, any business or union (of any size) with its snout in the public trough, any politician filling that trough and feeding those snouts for reciprocal gain, and any group using the political system (at any level) to maintain its monopoly, or its winning “edge” against less-well-connected competitors.
This country desperately needs an overhaul in capital gains to justly reward the venture capitalists and penalize the vampire capitalists who buy, devour then get a loss to carry forward.
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