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The virtuous cycle provided by a functioning market is not a pyramid scheme. Not even close. Pyramid schemes transfer wealth from the bottom to the top while c

The virtuous cycle provided by a functioning market is not a pyramid scheme. Not even close. Pyramid schemes transfer wealth from the bottom to the top while creating no new additional wealth. America is creating tons of additional wealth and how much each gets from that wealth is proportional to one's leverage and one's leverage is generally proportional to how much one is able to contribute to wealth generation (in either talent or useful capital)

jiofih 7y ago
“Virtuous”. It is fueled by artificial growth. It demands growth and makes sustainable, stable businesses a liability. It is absurd to see companies folding barely two weeks into hardship.
- matwood 7y ago
  > It is absurd to see companies folding barely two weeks into hardship. Why? Companies sitting on tons of cash is a bad thing. That cash either needs to be invested through hiring, buying equipment, etc...or paid out to the shareholders (who then spend, invest, etc...). Sitting on cash traps capital that could be doing something else to create value. And before you say companies need to plan better, companies do plan for downturns. But, no company plans for their revenues to go to near zero overnight.
buzzkillington 7y ago
The US has destroyed nearly one trillion dollars in wealth for the bottom 50% since 1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...
- malandrew 7y ago
  You're going to have to elaborate on what you mean by "destroyed". Also, the US isn't a single entity. It's an agglomeration of 330 million people interacting with one another and it's various levels of governance at the local, state and federal level. Natural disasters can destroy wealth by destroying assets. Individuals can squander their wealth through bad investments. A government can steal wealth through taxes. Wealth can be forfeited through civil or criminal proceedings. Wealth can dwindle in real terms due to inflation. So on and so forth. But to say that the "US destroyed wealth" makes no sense and isn't either a supportable or falsifiable statement.
ta999999171 7y ago
Not a substantive comment, but: ahahahaha Are you one of the people who doesn't know what a gallon of milk costs? Trying to figure out how else you could have come to this conclusion.

jiofih 7y ago

“Virtuous”. It is fueled by artificial growth. It demands growth and makes sustainable, stable businesses a liability. It is absurd to see companies folding barely two weeks into hardship.

matwood 7y ago
> It is absurd to see companies folding barely two weeks into hardship. Why? Companies sitting on tons of cash is a bad thing. That cash either needs to be invested through hiring, buying equipment, etc...or paid out to the shareholders (who then spend, invest, etc...). Sitting on cash traps capital that could be doing something else to create value. And before you say companies need to plan better, companies do plan for downturns. But, no company plans for their revenues to go to near zero overnight.

buzzkillington 7y ago

The US has destroyed nearly one trillion dollars in wealth for the bottom 50% since 1989: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...

malandrew 7y ago
You're going to have to elaborate on what you mean by "destroyed". Also, the US isn't a single entity. It's an agglomeration of 330 million people interacting with one another and it's various levels of governance at the local, state and federal level. Natural disasters can destroy wealth by destroying assets. Individuals can squander their wealth through bad investments. A government can steal wealth through taxes. Wealth can be forfeited through civil or criminal proceedings. Wealth can dwindle in real terms due to inflation. So on and so forth. But to say that the "US destroyed wealth" makes no sense and isn't either a supportable or falsifiable statement.

ta999999171 7y ago

Not a substantive comment, but: ahahahaha Are you one of the people who doesn't know what a gallon of milk costs? Trying to figure out how else you could have come to this conclusion.