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>if I find a gold nugget while hiking, somehow that hurts society? If one person controls all the money in the world, would you consider that to be harmful to
by 50656E6973 8y ago
>if I find a gold nugget while hiking, somehow that hurts society?
If one person controls all the money in the world, would you consider that to be harmful to society?
If so, to what degree would that money/wealth need to be shared for that harm to subside to acceptable levels?
- skookumchuck 8y ago> If one person controls all the money in the world Finding a gold nugget takes nothing away from anyone else. Wealth is not a fixed pie at all - wealth can be created, which is what free markets do.
- asark 8y agoIt's not about the gold, it's a reductio argument aimed at gaining your agreement that there's some line beyond which inequality is harmful, so the disagreement can move on to the topic of where the line is whether than is inequality even possibly bad.
- burroisolator 8y ago> If one person controls all the money in the world, would you consider that to be harmful to society? Probably not since the money would be worthless: why would anyone want to use this money?
- jandrese 8y agoThe paradox of capitalism. Due to the positive feedback loop of capital it naturally gravitates towards a system where a single individual controls all of the capital, at which point the system has completely collapsed. In practice it would have collapsed before that point, but for basically the same reason. None of the capital is where it needs to be to be useful. This is why you need stuff like progressive taxes, public works projects, and social programs on top of capitalism, to pull money out of the top and re-inject it at the bottom lest the system get too top heavy.
- InitialLastName 8y agoIn other words, the only way to stabilize capitalism is for those with the money-piles to spread it around just enough that those without don't try to take any extra.
- jpatokal 8y agoCitation needed. If anything, capitalism seems antifragile: individual wealth never seems to last beyond the 3rd generation.
- monocasa 8y agoDo you have a source for that, that isn't the pithy unsourced statements from a wealth management company in an ad campaign?
- skookumchuck 8y agoThe article itself shows that each Disney generation has less money. The Kennedys are another example. Are the Rockefellers the richest people in America? The Vanderbilts? The Carnegies? The Morgans? The Astors? The Gettys? Nope to all. The richest today are first generation - Gates, Bezos, Buffet, Musk, Case, etc.
- 50656E6973 8y agoIt's a hypothetical question, assuming they have no other option