Why Wealth Inequality is Good
Now this is a controversial subject, so don't get emotional about it, but the truth is that wealth inequality is good. It's just that it should not be taken to extreme.
Like obviously starving kids in Africa without water or shelter is obviously bad, and that has to be fixed. Also homelessness, lack of access to electricity or even the internet is very very bad.
But I am not talking about those, obviously, I am not a "heartless capitalist" as many would have thought, I actually want humanity to prosper and live freely, that is why I do what I do, and the fact that I get rewarded for it is nice.
The point
What do I mean by wealth inequality? Well if every single unit of wealth would be distributed equally in the world, then everyone would just be drinking, partying and having sex all day long. Sounds nice? Well it isn't because in 1 generation humanity would probably go extinct, if not in 2.
We need to keep our discipline. It doesn't mean that we can't have fun. But we must also find a balance between being disciplined and having fun. It is crucial to live a balanced life, avoiding dangers, but also having a happy life.
There are many irresponsible people, maybe they shouldn't have as much money as responsible people would. Why? Becuase they would spend it on rubbish. And responsible people would actually spend it on things that would help humanity in the long term.
In other words saving money is necessary to grow the economy. You can only spend after you have enough revenue to do it . In the current extremely-hedonist economy, people are always in debt, they can't manage their finances well, so this is a big problem.
- On one hand people need to be educated about responsibility (which they don't do in Government Schools apparently)
- On the other hand you need to make responsible people earn more money than those who are not.
Example
Cryptocurrency is the best example. The most responsible people right now are those that have invested in cryptocurrencies.
So I had like 40,000$ in Steem. I could have easly spent that and bought a Mercedes for myself, but what would have that accomplished? More pollution of the environment?
But I've kept it in Steem, therefore helping Steemit platform grow, and now probably 1000 people are living off that investment from their Steemit earnings.
So just like that I have created 40,000$ worth of economic growth, by not spending my money, and investing it.
So this is why investors are crucial for the economy, investors create things, they help them grow like caretakers.
And it's fine if people are spending money, don't get me wrong, but somebody had to save that money up before it could been spent. I had to renounce my Mercedes, just to help out the Steem system grow, so that now more and more people will come here and make money.
So isn't that money better in my pocket than other's? Because if you had that money you'd probably spent it on alcohol,party, and sex. I've invested it creating probably 1000 jobs...
So this is why wealth inequality is crucial. Somebody has to have that wealth and hang onto it, in order for others to have jobs in the future.
And just like that, we have now probably 10,000 people who earn a lot of money here and another 50,000-80,000 people who earn decent money here.
Just like that Steemit created 80,000 jobs, more than your average shitty Government promises. That is how innovation works!
Capitalism is the tide that Lifts all Boats
Sources:
And just like that I feel more inclined to Capitalism than ever before...
Cheers for your sacrifice.
Capitalism was always good, it's the Government that keeps Capitalism at bay from liberating humanity.
It's just that the heart of capitalism is what got us into the hell of a mess we're in. Capitalizing instead of Symbiosis. Calling it Government does not do it complete justice.
Capitalism is the best strategy to allocate finite resources to innovate for the future.
You can't have equality until IQ is not equally distributed. I am sorry this is the truth.
Intelligence is the most important asset a human can have, and that apparently is not equally distributed, by nature.
Smart people need to have more money than dumb people, in order to help dumb people with their problems.
Smart versus dumb? You're wrong. It's mostly corrupt versus non-corrupt. But something like wealth distribution isn't as binary as some people's minds are black and white.
That is another parameter, the initiation of force is wrong, so on that basis we can define corrupt and honest people.
But other than that, it's always the smart people who advance humanity.
Rather, smart people are being kept from advancing humanity right now, because of parameters.
Nice post. The thing is, wealth always ends up where it is supposed to be. If it is redistributed, it will always go back to the people who deserve it again, even if it takes a generation. People who "get" money, either win it in the Lottery or by welfare or other means, will not be able to keep it or make more.
That is true, people who live on welfare money never save up anything to have more money later. Also people who win the lottery, waste all of it in less than 5 years.
There was an EUR lotter winner, won like 1 billion EUR, spent all of it in 5 years. What a loser....
If he had invested that he could have created 100,000 jobs for his country, and a stable income for himself. But he was a loser even if he won the lottery.
If I had like 1 billion $, I would help all altcoins rise to the stars creating hundreds of thousand if not millions of jobs.
But your statement is not correct, if taxes are high, then the money also goes into the hands of people who dont deserve it. Namely corrupt politicians.
Oh, Indeed! Im against all taxation! It's theft! :)
Yet there are families who have had riches for generations. What does that say about them in our current age? Just that they've been 'responsible'? How do you define where wealth is supposed to be? Working hard does not equal moneyflow.
Well they are most likely spoiled kids, or they dont even know anything about making money, it's just that they have a financial advisor that invests their wealth on their behalf and they just collect the money.
But most of it is invested in Government Bonds, which is very wasteful for the economy, it literally guarantees future taxation. It's a ponzi scheme.
I would never invest in Government Bonds, it's unethical, bondage.
Oh boy..you know, they've done a great job preserving their wealth is they manage to keep it or even increase it. Wealth is supposed to be where it is created. The best place for a fortune to stay is where it has been created - and if that fortune has been created by a family, it should stay there. These are the people who know that business/company. Remember, very few people just inherit 100 million dollars and that's it. I wouldnt even consider that a problem. Most people (that inherit something of value ) inherit a couple of milllions and or a business. They will create jobs, they will invest the money. Who do you suggest can do something better with that money? Governments? Nice track record....
Most people don't have any money and will do anything for a little bit of it to survive. How have rich people been steadily getting richer, in our recent past still?
There is a lot of problem in the world, I am not denying it.
But for example food prices have been going down for the last 100 years, so much that I can literally buy 1 week's worth of food for 5 EUR if I wanted too.
In the middle ages people were living on bread and maybe some vegetables.
The population is 7.5 billion and rising and food is cheper than ever. How?
Beause people have invested
capitalin order to advance agriculture. It's capitalism.There are still poor people, but better than 4 billion people starving to death due to lack of food.
Symbiosis over capitalization. Also, there is kind of a market for people wanting to fucking eat.
Yes there is but there should also be a market for people to show their value, things like social media is good, but there they don't make money.
So Steemit and Synereo are the only places right now where this value can be shown.
I agree, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep our eye on wealth inequality, especially on a market that also influences the way people think.
Wealth helps everyone not just those that have it.
If you have wealth in BTC, it's not just you who are better off,but everyone else using BTC, since it lifts their coin's value up as well.
If I buy a ton of EDG, I help everyone else who bought before me.
Sure :)
Wow nice post keep it up
Ummm , I would say that some kind of regulation is needed
Like here the whales have decided not to vote
Is not Capitalism focused on "most" instead of the "best"?
Whatever "regulation" there is needed, the community can handle it. We've had HF19, it increased payments massively. The community can decide the best was is good for us. Fuck outsiders.
The whales can do what the want, it's their money.
The "most" money always come from the "best" solution.
I may agre on this
But still think some kind of regulation , I mean auto-regulation in a DAO or similar will balance the output better
Of course , when money is the only thing that cares
When you gauge it on other values like , happiness, healthiness, social or scientific advance etc..
I find that most money comes on a high cost in other parameters that makes life better for a community
Yes but no government regulation. Besides everyone is free to do anything, you can't force people into behaving.
If there is something wrong in your opinion, then speak up, but don't expect others to fix it.
They are advancing too, if people want to help they can always ask for a fundraiser for some charity, it's possible.
I agree with this. Just your post seems really harsh. Clearly - as I go through your comments you aren't as....I don't know....callous as your article makes you seem ;-)
You are wrong (people would only party and have sex). I just take my right to say that you are wrong because you said that I am wrong. I have a need to do productive things even when I have enough money. I would work less, maybe 2 hours a day for shit jobs and all day to create my ideas and prodcts which would revolutionize the planet.
Alright, there are exceptions, but in general that is what people would do. You are intelligent because you are in Steemit (smart people join first).
But you can't speak for others, other people might not have those goals. Some people just like to lie around all day in bed, living on welfare. It's bad for them and it's bad for us too.
Those people need to start making some money for themselves.
Don't you think it becomes boring to do the same all day? I think that you are mixing up lethargy through depression caused by low paid jobs without future or respect from society with lazyness
Whatever the cause of it is, it's not healthy for them. I said hat it's not good for neither us, neither them.
So they should just start making real money, like here on Steemit.
Of course coming out of 18 years of prison camp (schools) with no education, knowing nothing about the world, and no job prospects.
Well that could be depressing. But who's fault is that?
Well if every single unit of wealth would be distributed equally in the world, then everyone would just be drinking, partying and having sex all day long.
That is an assumption I strongly doubt would be to happen. Most people have aspirations to do something greater than just partying 24/7. Even though I believe our current system destroys a lot of people's true motivations. It doesn't mean that if we give everyone a fair piece of the wealth distribution they go sit on their asses with no need of innovating, creating new things to benefit humanity whilst helping others..
Most people would do that. And the few people who wouldn't, they don't do it already, they are already innovators. There might be more lesser innovators coming, but it should not be at the expense of the top innovators.
If becomming successful is not a possible outcome of work, why work?
We all need incentives to do something and there is no such thing as a free lunch. To get something, you gotta provide something.
Long live capitalism!
I wouldn't really say wealth inequality is necessarily 'good,' but the various methods of going about it can easily be extremely detrimental to the intended goal and have an opposite effect. Equally dirt floor poor would be even worse than what exists today.
For example, pro small business policies are far more likely to reach the goal as opposed to putting guns to the heads of the ones that have done well.
The net incentive becomes to not start a business and find witty ways to take advantage of the distribution system of that wealth collected by force rather than find witty ways to bring value to the economy as an individual running on his own 'steem.'
The focus should always be on helping the small guy achieve better success rather than focus on taking from the big guy that has already achieved success. Success is the goal rather than something to be ashamed of.
Yikes...you have an interesting premise with a weak defense. Not a fan of the 'some humans are superior argument' - it's the same theory that fueled slavery (the industry that the US was literally built on - and still prospers from).
In our world - those at the top - generally pay to play and pay to stay. They are insulated by regulations that favor them, and money to pay for political favors. Not all - I'm not anti wealth or anti success - but I am anti corruption.
Also, not to get too philosophical but success is defined as different things by different people. Let's say you were born into a tribe in Indonesia or Africa - a tribe that valued the ability to hunt and build shelter from raw resources ...your ability to make money would be useless.
In my younger days, I was definitely more Marxist leaning - I think that too is an extreme, with far too many pitfalls. At heart, I'm the kind of believer in the free market who would use my wealth and power to also provide opportunities for others to succeed. That old - pull yourself up by your bootstraps argument is so old and tiring and based on profound privilege.
I'm not an economist with a solution to wealth inequality - but rich getting richer due to corruption certainly isn't the answer. I think like all political and economic philosophies - capitalism has its merits and its limits.
Of course - with overregulation we've never seen real capitalism in action. Part of me wants to believe that there would be enough 'good' people to stop a few powerful from exploiting everything and everyone in their way....but history tells me different.
I was drawn to your post for its title - and expected a well thought out argument - was disappointed to see the (in my opinion) dangerous and flawed argument that rich people deserve to be rich.
Straight another great article. Looking forward to more posts from you.