Oxfam has a typically froth inducing story that the media eats up without any scrutiny whatsoever.
Turns out, the rich really are getting richer. And they'll soon own more than the rest of us put together.Yes.
So says a new report, which estimates that the richest 1% will have as much wealth as the other 99% combined by next year.
"The richest 1% have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44% in 2009 to 48% in 2014," Oxfam says in a report Monday.
At that rate, the wealthiest will own more than 50% by next year, according to the report.
"Do we really want to live in a world where the 1% own more than the rest of us combined?" asked Winnie Byanyima, executive director of the international aid agency.
The question is bullshit. One, do we really think there is a finite amount of wealth in the world? How is that possible? The world's GDP is far greater now than it was 50 years ago and even inflation doesn't take into account all the things we have and built now. Wealth is not finite. You can write a book and create wealth if it sells. You can write a blog and create a podcast and create wealth. (It's takes time though. C'mon guys, spread the word and click an ad here and there!)
More importantly is the fallacies about wealth. One, what obstructs people from acquiring wealth? Second, is wealth income? And third, are people who are wealthy always so? Are people who are poor remain so?
Wealth is the accumulation of money or assets. So I ask you, if a rich person buys a yacht, did some poor person in middle africa lose said yacht? Absurd, yet that's what the media wants you to believe. If someone has money, it was stolen from someone else.
If the rich person pays money for the yacht, then people who built the yacht get paid! Duh! So now the rich person has acquired more wealth and the people that built it ALSO are now more wealthy. The richer people get, the richer EVERYONE gets. Only in a society where the government controls wealth does money get stolen from one group of people to be put in the hands of another.
Hint: Governments typically tax the wealthy at levels higher than others and typically the poor are given monies in the form of welfare, education, housing, etc. In this system, the wealthy are the ones who lose.
In a free market system everyone wins IF everyone is putting something into the system. It's the only system where you can get more out of it than you put in. Now we can debate on how much more some goods and services are worth as compared to others but worth of these things are what they are. In the above example, both the yacht maker and the rich person are wealthier. The rich person values the yacht above the monies he has collected. The yacht maker sells the yacht for more than what it cost to build it. BOTH are now wealthier because wealth is not income and it is not measured solely in money.
The media would have you believe the opposite. This way they can stoke the easiest of emotions to stoke: envy and sloth. Someone has something you don't, that stokes the envy. It's a lot easier to take something away from someone using force of government than to put in the hard work to make yourself successful, that's the sloth.
Don't buy into this crap. It will only result in the same government programs. By the way, the wealthy will always get more wealthy but the poor will have a tougher time if you keep taking more wealth from the rich. They don't get a tenth of what actually gets taken away.
We've been trying this for the last 50 years. It's time to stop and try less envy, sloth, and government bullshit. We want everyone to be able to acquire wealth and the lame idea that wealth is finite and that if some people have more than others is the surest way to make sure no one is wealthy.
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