9 ms·
The GDP per capita of the world is only about $12,000. That's technically "what we need," food, clothes, and shelter for a family of 4, but on a per person basi
by ksdale 6y ago
The GDP per capita of the world is only about $12,000. That's technically "what we need," food, clothes, and shelter for a family of 4, but on a per person basis, it's below the federal poverty line in the US.
I don't think it's correct to say that we had enough wealth a long time ago. There are a lot of places in the world that are still desperately poor by any measure, not just by the standards of the wealthy. And although it's undoubtedly true that the wealthiest few deciles could give up many luxuries to provide more for the poor, it's much more arguable if there is enough for everyone to have enough without generating much more.
- randyrand 6y agoI’ve been watching videos about tribes in Papa New Guniea and it makes you realize you don’t need very much for clothes or shelter. Food is all you really need. For luxury: food, sex, and purpose. The tribes have all 3.
- fastball 6y agoYou should probably move out there then.
- dudeman13 6y agoNeed Want
- fastball 6y agoGC claimed that food is all that is needed, and that their wants were satisfied by the additional of the other two things. The fact is that the average human is not actually content to be one notch above animal with "food, sex, and purpose". That is why we have progressed much further than just accepting those basics as all we need. But I think our improvements on those things do provide enough value for the average person to be happy. - Tasty food - Safe sex (and relative ease of reproduction) - Multi-variate / chosen purpose. Plus other methods to remove annoying friction from your life: - Optimized shelter - Optimized travel - Consumption of various raw goods (not for food and not for shelter). e.g. 3D Printers!
- scythe 6y agoIt doesn't snow in Papua New Guinea.
- kbutler 6y agoGDP per capita of $12,000 implies family of 4 is $48,000, because "per capita" is per person in that family.
- ksdale 6y agoYeah that's why I said for a family of 4. $12,000 is hardly enough for food, shelter, and clothing for a single person.
- legulere 6y agoGDP per capita also counts children. $48,000 for a family of four sounds perfectly fine to me.
- qeternity 6y agoThese arguments always ignore the fact that the only reason $X GDP is generated is because people are incentivized. Children don’t produce, so someone else is producing for them. If you tell people they will get $12k no matter how hard they work, they won’t work. We’ve tried socialism.
- maxsilver 6y ago> If you tell people they will get $12k no matter how hard they work, they won’t work. This is obviously not true, since in every capitalist society, the hardest working people already make the least amount of money, and the laziest people employed already get given the most amount of money. Capitalism has already proven that financial incentive has no correlation to how hard someone works.
- qeternity 6y agoWhat?? It’s the exact opposite. Those people HAVE to work that hard precisely for the reason I mentioned: they won’t be paid otherwise. This is precisely the issue. If you paid people irrespective of how much they work, they won’t work. Your example is evidence of my statement, not refutation.