"B. Lester" apparently has no clue about money or economics, or is deliberately playing on the envy of others.
There probably are people out there who literally hoard cash and keep in in their home, or wherever. Some of them are "black market" operators. (Some ignorant people think I'm talking about the slave trade.) However, these aren't the people who end up on the cover of Forbes.
The people who make the cover of Forbes as role models do not hoard cash. If they did, they wouldn't be such successful people. No, these people have built up wealth by helping to provide goods and services that people want. Even if they had stashed all of their money in a bank, they would still be helping others because the bank would be using that money.
Rich people have not impoverished this union. On the contrary, as they build wealth, they help others to build wealth as well. It is up to others, rich, middle-class, or poor, to decide whether or not they want to buy what the wealthy person is selling, or whether or not they want to work for the wealthy person, or invest in the wealthy person's business. That is all voluntary. The poor person's dollar is not taken away against his will. The exception is when a government goes beyond Constitutional mandate and spends taxpayer money on something it isn't supposed to. Even then, since the poor do not pay federal income taxes, the poor person's dollar is not taken away. On the contrary, the "poor" in this union are provided with housing, food, health care, education, military/fire/police protection, recreation, transportation, sanitation and so many other things, largely or entirely paid for by others.
Almost all of the people who circulate this picture would be considered as "hoarding cash" when compared to most of the world, yet they whine and moan about other people doing even better than they have. Being angry at others is a lot easier than working hard, making good choices, and being a success. The problem is, electing legislators who keep forcibly redistributing a wealthy person's earnings or keep borrowing to provide us with goodies is not sustainable. That is impoverishing this union. Free your mind from hate-filled Leftist dung and think, indeed.
I have seen this Leftist drivel twice recently on Facebook. My response was much the same as yours, albeit briefer. As you pointed out, "B. Lester" makes a bad analogy that is designed to play on class envy.
ReplyDeleteThis quote is from Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson OM CC OBE PC PC Former Prime Minister of Canada, a Canadian scholar, statesman, soldier and diplomat, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis.
ReplyDeleteAs an economist, I can tell you that you're incorrect. Firstly do the money-hoarders not reinvest in processing capital so no actual growth (=net production) is happening. All the price increases are originating from shortage and population growth which isn't growth but inflation and poverty. Secondly is this fact measurable through the returns to scale on investments - the economy is having negative returns to scale year by year. The costs and damages of how these money-hoarders get the money and spend it are so ginormous every year that we'll soon all be completely broke on everything. Thirdly did they all get their temporary (first) income increase, which allowed for them to end up on the cover of Forbes, from colonialism. Colonialism is armed robbery, plunder and terrorism. The damages from of getting on top were and are so ginormous that they'll never be able to cover those costs and that loss for any country that they've colonized, and they've not contributed to anything but net damages and costs year by year ever since. So from the strictly-financial perspective, you're wrong, or we'd have production and growth and not more and more broke and ill people drowning in increasingly mountain-sized piles of garbage and toxins (=biological disaster) and less and less food, drinking water, living space, arable land and clean air every year. Returns to scale: if you don't know anything about those, you're in the wrong industry.
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