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Yes it is possible for everyone's wealth to increase. In the year 1900 Global GDP was 1 Trillion. Today it is 77 Trillion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros

Yes it is possible for everyone's wealth to increase. In the year 1900 Global GDP was 1 Trillion. Today it is 77 Trillion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_world_product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_world_product In Layman's the Global Pie is growing. The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen DRASTICALLY over the last 25 years. https://twitter.com/humanprogress/status/913901718823489538 https://twitter.com/humanprogress/status/913901718823489538 So the people with the smallest piece of the pie are slowly getting a larger piece, but the people who already have the biggest piece of pie are getting even bigger pieces faster. But because the pie is growing, it doesn't mean that their larger piece is making someone else get a smaller piece. The only people who have a proportionally smaller piece than they used to are in the middle class. Which is what happens when first world work more closely with developing nations. Taking more people out of extreme poverty but putting slight downward pressure on the middle class.

mtgx 9y ago
Even if it did increase, most of that increase is just inflation anyway. And it's usually the wealthy that benefit from inflation (at least more than regular people do).
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > it's usually the wealthy that benefit from inflation Inflation is a regressive feature of modern currencies. It transfers wealth from lenders to borrowers and away from investors. The degree to which it does so is a function of the amount of wealth one has.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  Compare the "regular" person of today to the "regular" person of 50 years ago. Is it easier or harder to afford basic foodstuffs? Do they eat out (luxury) more or less? If they own a home, is it larger or the same size? Who travels more? Who has better healthcare? Who spends more on entertainment? How much do they spend on the family pet? Who spent more time furthering their education? All of these are measures of wealth, and the modern "regular" person would be wealthier in every one of these categories. And that's not even factoring in advances in technology that make the quality of life of a person better even if there share of societal wealth goes down.
  - CJefferson 9y ago
    House prices less affordable than 50 years ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8468605.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8468605.stm
  - ntsplnkv2 9y ago
    This is very shortsighted-claiming that all of these trends have to do with being richer, is simply absurd. Also, "regular" person? What age? Male? Female? What does that even mean? This is just utter nonsense. But I will humor you: > Is it easier or harder to afford basic foodstuffs? Processed foods are far easier to afford, but they are extremely unhealthy. As for other basics, many have gone up over the last 50 years. > Do they eat out (luxury) more or less? Women now work. 50 years ago they did not. Less time/people to cook at home. Not like everyone is eating at steakhouses. They just don't have the time so they go to Chipotle or McDonalds or Panera. > If they own a home, is it larger or the same size? Most people own legacy homes-they are the same size because they are the same homes. New builds are building bigger houses but what "regular" person builds new homes? > Who has better healthcare? This has more to do with advancements in medicine and technology than people becoming richer. > Who spends more on entertainment? How much do they spend on the family pet? Who spent more time furthering their education? Furthering education is largely on credit, so this is a bad measure. > and the modern "regular" person would be wealthier in every one of these categories. Nope.
    - oreo81 9y ago
      What a greedy ungrateful person you are.
    - ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
      > This has more to do with advancements in medicine and technology than people becoming richer. It's impossible to separate people becoming richer from advancements in technology. We didn't grow GDP by 77 times, because we work 77 times harder. Improvements in underlying technology are what help us create more wealth. The problem is that the new wealth being created and benefits of that new technology is being shared so proportionally.
  - 9y ago
- viridian 9y ago
  The wealthy absolutely do not benefit from inflation, and lose the most money due to it in reality. Inflation depreciates the value of your liquidity, which is why every major company (except apple, it seems) dumps as much currency as possible into appreciable and tax deductible assets. However, that's more difficult for persons, and most of the super wealthy end up holding a plurality of their money on their person. Part of the reason for this is that they have enough money that they can't easily enter the market with a sizable amount of their total funds without moving the market against themselves.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    > Inflation depreciates the value of your liquidity, which is why every major company (except apple, it seems) dumps as much currency as possible into appreciable and tax deductible assets. When you read stories that Apple (or whoever) has $X billion "in cash" it's not actual cash. They keep some around in money markets and the like for near term expenses, but the majority is in bonds that pay more than inflation. In fact, if Apple were classified as a bond fund they would be the largest in the world: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-04/apple-buys-more-company-debt-than-the-world-s-biggest-bond-funds https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-04/apple-buy...
    - viridian 9y ago
      That makes sense. Morningstar groups all near term liquidity together, and so I figured Apple had to be constantly expanding aggressively or something and needed a warchest 7x the size of microsoft's to do it. Sitting on bonds as amid-near term solution makes more sense.
  - MisterBastahrd 9y ago
    Yes, they absolutely do. Without inflation, it would be almost impossible to borrow money from a bank. No borrowing = no new investment. Most super-wealthy people are constantly borrowing money because the rates they borrow at are lower than their return on investing that money.
- ericd 9y ago
  Mind explaining how the wealthy benefit from inflation? Their bond holdings certainly don't benefit.
CalChris 9y ago
> The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen DRASTICALLY over the last 25 years. This is defined as people living on less than a dollar a day. Yes, it has more than halved in 30 years. Congratulations. I totally see how this progress actually over half a century relates to the world's richest getting an extra trillion in one year. Yep, makes sense to me.
- pdelbarba 9y ago
  Sorry to hijack this, but referring to your other comment, I also saw weird stuff going on today with posts getting flagged. Seems the bots and trolls have found our corner of the internet as well... Not sure what's going on exactly.
- ptaipale 9y ago
  The "dollar" has been adjusted over time, though, and is currently actually USD 1.90. Your tone sounds sarcastic but I don't see the justification for it. The number of people who are actually hungry and malnourished has gone down significantly, and far more people are vaccinated today then 25 years ago, and far more children can go to school and literacy rates are up.

mtgx 9y ago

Even if it did increase, most of that increase is just inflation anyway. And it's usually the wealthy that benefit from inflation (at least more than regular people do).

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> it's usually the wealthy that benefit from inflation Inflation is a regressive feature of modern currencies. It transfers wealth from lenders to borrowers and away from investors. The degree to which it does so is a function of the amount of wealth one has.
ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
Compare the "regular" person of today to the "regular" person of 50 years ago. Is it easier or harder to afford basic foodstuffs? Do they eat out (luxury) more or less? If they own a home, is it larger or the same size? Who travels more? Who has better healthcare? Who spends more on entertainment? How much do they spend on the family pet? Who spent more time furthering their education? All of these are measures of wealth, and the modern "regular" person would be wealthier in every one of these categories. And that's not even factoring in advances in technology that make the quality of life of a person better even if there share of societal wealth goes down.
- CJefferson 9y ago
  House prices less affordable than 50 years ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8468605.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8468605.stm
- ntsplnkv2 9y ago
  This is very shortsighted-claiming that all of these trends have to do with being richer, is simply absurd. Also, "regular" person? What age? Male? Female? What does that even mean? This is just utter nonsense. But I will humor you: > Is it easier or harder to afford basic foodstuffs? Processed foods are far easier to afford, but they are extremely unhealthy. As for other basics, many have gone up over the last 50 years. > Do they eat out (luxury) more or less? Women now work. 50 years ago they did not. Less time/people to cook at home. Not like everyone is eating at steakhouses. They just don't have the time so they go to Chipotle or McDonalds or Panera. > If they own a home, is it larger or the same size? Most people own legacy homes-they are the same size because they are the same homes. New builds are building bigger houses but what "regular" person builds new homes? > Who has better healthcare? This has more to do with advancements in medicine and technology than people becoming richer. > Who spends more on entertainment? How much do they spend on the family pet? Who spent more time furthering their education? Furthering education is largely on credit, so this is a bad measure. > and the modern "regular" person would be wealthier in every one of these categories. Nope.
  - oreo81 9y ago
    What a greedy ungrateful person you are.
  - ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
    > This has more to do with advancements in medicine and technology than people becoming richer. It's impossible to separate people becoming richer from advancements in technology. We didn't grow GDP by 77 times, because we work 77 times harder. Improvements in underlying technology are what help us create more wealth. The problem is that the new wealth being created and benefits of that new technology is being shared so proportionally.
- 9y ago
viridian 9y ago
The wealthy absolutely do not benefit from inflation, and lose the most money due to it in reality. Inflation depreciates the value of your liquidity, which is why every major company (except apple, it seems) dumps as much currency as possible into appreciable and tax deductible assets. However, that's more difficult for persons, and most of the super wealthy end up holding a plurality of their money on their person. Part of the reason for this is that they have enough money that they can't easily enter the market with a sizable amount of their total funds without moving the market against themselves.
- jonknee 9y ago
  > Inflation depreciates the value of your liquidity, which is why every major company (except apple, it seems) dumps as much currency as possible into appreciable and tax deductible assets. When you read stories that Apple (or whoever) has $X billion "in cash" it's not actual cash. They keep some around in money markets and the like for near term expenses, but the majority is in bonds that pay more than inflation. In fact, if Apple were classified as a bond fund they would be the largest in the world: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-04/apple-buys-more-company-debt-than-the-world-s-biggest-bond-funds https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-04/apple-buy...
  - viridian 9y ago
    That makes sense. Morningstar groups all near term liquidity together, and so I figured Apple had to be constantly expanding aggressively or something and needed a warchest 7x the size of microsoft's to do it. Sitting on bonds as amid-near term solution makes more sense.
- MisterBastahrd 9y ago
  Yes, they absolutely do. Without inflation, it would be almost impossible to borrow money from a bank. No borrowing = no new investment. Most super-wealthy people are constantly borrowing money because the rates they borrow at are lower than their return on investing that money.
ericd 9y ago
Mind explaining how the wealthy benefit from inflation? Their bond holdings certainly don't benefit.

CalChris 9y ago

> The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen DRASTICALLY over the last 25 years. This is defined as people living on less than a dollar a day. Yes, it has more than halved in 30 years. Congratulations. I totally see how this progress actually over half a century relates to the world's richest getting an extra trillion in one year. Yep, makes sense to me.

pdelbarba 9y ago
Sorry to hijack this, but referring to your other comment, I also saw weird stuff going on today with posts getting flagged. Seems the bots and trolls have found our corner of the internet as well... Not sure what's going on exactly.
ptaipale 9y ago
The "dollar" has been adjusted over time, though, and is currently actually USD 1.90. Your tone sounds sarcastic but I don't see the justification for it. The number of people who are actually hungry and malnourished has gone down significantly, and far more people are vaccinated today then 25 years ago, and far more children can go to school and literacy rates are up.