Wealth isn’t money, it’s stuff. It’s land, a home, stocks, gold, etc. Money is just the medium of exchange, so we price the stuff using money. There’s no real point in hoarding a fiat currency like the dollar, because the US government can create as much of it as they want. You don’t hoard something that is infinitely reproducible, you hoard the physical stuff that is inherently finite. For the physical stuff, ownership is definitely zero-sum; the more I own of a finite good, the less anyone else can own.
They hold a lot of money in assets like stocks and real estate because they want to be rich. They want a lot of money so they can buy things, and the more money they have the more things and/or nicer things they can buy. I mean, you probably want the same thing, right? Who doesn’t.
Of course I want money to live well and get what I need and want. But they have more money than they could spend in a thousand lifetimes and still want more. I don’t want that.
Of course I want money to live well and get what I need and want.
How much money is that? $1 million? $1 billion? If you want a house that costs $500 thousand, that’s what you’ll need for that. Maybe you feel like you could live well on $100 thousand a year, buy some decent things, take some trips, etc. Well, $100 thousand a year over 50 years, is $5,000,000. That plus your $500,000 house and you’d have enough money to be in the top 1%.
But what I’m saying is, if you had that much money you would be wealthy. You would be one of them, you’d be in the top 1% of wealth holders.
But, ok, let’s say wealthy really means everyone who has over $1 billion in wealth. Well, if we forced all the people who have more than $1 billion in wealth to liquidate all of their wealth above $999,999,999.00, and we redistributed that to every household in the US, each household would get about $36,000. And I’m not talking about $36,000 a year, I’m talking about a one time $36,000 check. Now, that’s not nothing, and for some folks that would definitely help a ton, but you also have to consider the inflationary implications. If all of the sudden every household in the US got an extra $36,000, a lot of those folks would want to spend it. And why not, right? Get a car maybe, take a trip, put a down payment on a house. But if everyone were suddenly looking to spend all that money at once, prices would go up, so your money wouldn’t go as far.
But I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it. I think there are a lot of good reasons to have a wealth tax over a certain amount. I’m just not sure it would make that much of a difference.
That’s why we don’t write checks to people and give that 5 trillion to the state where it belongs, to invest in education, public health, infrastructure, and other public goods. 5 trillion about 15% of our national debt.
That’s fine, but you really don’t need a wealth tax to fund education and infrastructure. A sovereign currency issuer can create their own money. There’s no reason why the US government couldn’t just create $5 trillion to fund those things you mentioned. And I know you might say that would cause inflation, but I don’t see how $5 trillion being created would cause more inflation than getting the $5 trillion from a wealth tax. Either way, the same amount of money is being spent on education, health and infrastructure. Plus, with the wealth tax, the billionaires would have to liquidate a lot of assets to get that money to pay the wealth tax, and that could cause a crash in asset markets.
They hold a lot of money because the more money they have the more they get as a return on investments, which becomes an exponential function of wealth and creates a fundamental disparity between those who have more and those who have less.
The only reason people “want the same thing” is because the system dictates that they should, and in fact must, there is no escaping it. Most rich psychopaths are gambling addicts, they get addicted to the money and the making of money, and it becomes an end in itself. Just like capitalism itself.
Wealth isn’t money, it’s stuff. It’s land, a home, stocks, gold, etc. Money is just the medium of exchange, so we price the stuff using money. There’s no real point in hoarding a fiat currency like the dollar, because the US government can create as much of it as they want. You don’t hoard something that is infinitely reproducible, you hoard the physical stuff that is inherently finite. For the physical stuff, ownership is definitely zero-sum; the more I own of a finite good, the less anyone else can own.
Then why do they hoard so much money
They do not; it’s just that their wealth is usually reported in monetary equivalent terms st. is e easier comparable.
Easier to say that a rich dude owns 10 billion than listing all of their assets.
They hold a lot of money in assets like stocks and real estate because they want to be rich. They want a lot of money so they can buy things, and the more money they have the more things and/or nicer things they can buy. I mean, you probably want the same thing, right? Who doesn’t.
Of course I want money to live well and get what I need and want. But they have more money than they could spend in a thousand lifetimes and still want more. I don’t want that.
How much money is that? $1 million? $1 billion? If you want a house that costs $500 thousand, that’s what you’ll need for that. Maybe you feel like you could live well on $100 thousand a year, buy some decent things, take some trips, etc. Well, $100 thousand a year over 50 years, is $5,000,000. That plus your $500,000 house and you’d have enough money to be in the top 1%.
Whatever the number is, it’s much less than a billion. That goes for anyone.
But what I’m saying is, if you had that much money you would be wealthy. You would be one of them, you’d be in the top 1% of wealth holders.
But, ok, let’s say wealthy really means everyone who has over $1 billion in wealth. Well, if we forced all the people who have more than $1 billion in wealth to liquidate all of their wealth above $999,999,999.00, and we redistributed that to every household in the US, each household would get about $36,000. And I’m not talking about $36,000 a year, I’m talking about a one time $36,000 check. Now, that’s not nothing, and for some folks that would definitely help a ton, but you also have to consider the inflationary implications. If all of the sudden every household in the US got an extra $36,000, a lot of those folks would want to spend it. And why not, right? Get a car maybe, take a trip, put a down payment on a house. But if everyone were suddenly looking to spend all that money at once, prices would go up, so your money wouldn’t go as far.
But I’m not saying we shouldn’t do it. I think there are a lot of good reasons to have a wealth tax over a certain amount. I’m just not sure it would make that much of a difference.
That’s why we don’t write checks to people and give that 5 trillion to the state where it belongs, to invest in education, public health, infrastructure, and other public goods. 5 trillion about 15% of our national debt.
That’s fine, but you really don’t need a wealth tax to fund education and infrastructure. A sovereign currency issuer can create their own money. There’s no reason why the US government couldn’t just create $5 trillion to fund those things you mentioned. And I know you might say that would cause inflation, but I don’t see how $5 trillion being created would cause more inflation than getting the $5 trillion from a wealth tax. Either way, the same amount of money is being spent on education, health and infrastructure. Plus, with the wealth tax, the billionaires would have to liquidate a lot of assets to get that money to pay the wealth tax, and that could cause a crash in asset markets.
They hold a lot of money because the more money they have the more they get as a return on investments, which becomes an exponential function of wealth and creates a fundamental disparity between those who have more and those who have less.
The only reason people “want the same thing” is because the system dictates that they should, and in fact must, there is no escaping it. Most rich psychopaths are gambling addicts, they get addicted to the money and the making of money, and it becomes an end in itself. Just like capitalism itself.
No, money is a representation of wealth, which can be used as a token for exchange.
No, money is a medium of exchange. Assets are worth what they can be exchanged for, that’s why wealth is measured in money.