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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth "Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions or the control o

• kgo 16y ago
  Right on. I was just going to link to wikipedia, but you beat me to it. Wealth has a very specific, easily quantifiable definition. For an individual or household, it's essentially your net worth. And you can actually have 'low wealth' (a.k.a you're poor). I wish I knew what the subtext of the original question was. Can I be wealthy if I'm a school teacher or something like that? If the question is really "What is wealthy?" I think Chris Rock's routine about 'rich' vs. 'wealthy' is as good as any. Wealthy is the point where your grandkids will never need to work a day in their life. Wealthy is getting foundations and libraries named after you. etc... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWERzwbobOk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWERzwbobOk I'll never be wealthy, and I'm fine with that. I'd gladly settle for rich.
• mahmud 16y ago
  Exactly. Why beat around the bush with all this "warm milk and cookies in bed" rhetoric?
• billswift 16y ago
  The best economic definition of wealth that I have seen is George Gilder's from his 1980 book, Wealth and Poverty. He contrasted it to resources in general, and to riches, as: "Wealth is resources dedicated to future production." A car used as a status symbol or personal transport is riches, one used in business to generate more income is wealth; similarly with education for enjoyment versus education for future production, and so on. He also pointed out that since spending on the military and police is not productive, that though necessary to protect wealth, it is not itself wealth and should be used as thriftily as possible.