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>"It was those kinds of hackers who Alexander, when he was running the NSA, said were responsible for "the greatest transfer of wealth in American history" beca
by AdmiralAsshat 12y ago
>"It was those kinds of hackers who Alexander, when he was running the NSA, said were responsible for "the greatest transfer of wealth in American history" because they were routinely stealing trade secrets and competitive information from U.S. companies and giving it to their competitors, often in China."
Oh, and here I thought the greatest transfer of wealth in American history was the massive rise in disparity over the last thirty years between the nation's top 0.1% and everyone else.
- ihsw 12y agoThat's consolidation of wealth -- transfer (in this context) implies it leaves sphere of American influence.
- rhizome 12y agoNo, the analogy holds. One is across national borders, the other across economic strata. Here is an article from Forbes describing welfare as wealth transfer: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/07/15/makers-takers-and-wealth-transfer-in-the-modern-welfare-state/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/07/15/mak...
- crazy1van 12y ago> Oh, and here I thought the greatest transfer of wealth in American history was the massive rise in disparity over the last thirty years between the nation's top 0.1% and everyone else. Not all changes in economic status are transfers of wealth. Consider two cases: 1) I physically steal a CD from the record store and sell it. That's a transfer because the store can't sell what they no longer posses. Instead I have sold it. Nothing new is created. 2) I create an album and sell CDs of it. That's not a transfer. I created something new of value and introduced it to the world. I may get wealthy, but the people who buy my CD don't lose value. They exchange one thing of value (money) for another of equivalent value to them (my CD).