> 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 t

> 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).