Why do we allow so few to hoard to much wealth?

[JimW1949]

Think about this:

Say I make a million dollars a year and I live in a shack, I put all my money in the bank, buy stocks etc

When I get my interest and dividends I just buy more stocks and put more money in the bank.

My money in the bank goes to people to get loans for houses, cars, start a new business, the money I put into stocks provides capital for businesses which provides people with more jobs and helping the economy even more.

I buy nothing for my own indulgence.

I work and provide $1 million dollars of productivity a year to society, and I accept worthless green pieces of paper in return.

According to the OP I'm an "evil" hoarder though.

Even if I did actually "hoard" mountains of cash in my basement I would *still* be helping society by causing the overall price level to drop because I'm deflating the money supply.

How does it help when you put that money in an overseas bank, or when you invest the money in foreign currency? It's possible it may help the people in a foreign country, but it doesn't do a whole lot for the American people.

 

[matt0611]

How does it help when you put that money in an overseas bank, or when you invest the money in foreign currency? It's possible it may help the people in a foreign country, but it doesn't do a whole lot for the American people.

If I change my dollars into foreign currency and put it in the bank, someone else now has my dollars and will either spend them in the united states or save them in the same way I did.

 

[JimW1949]

If I change my dollars into foreign currency and put it in the bank, someone else now has my dollars and will either spend them in the united states or save them in the same way I did.

How do figure that?

 

[JS80]

How do figure that?

Are you 12?

 

[JimW1949]

Are you 12?

No. Are you 12?

 

[QuantumPion]

Are you 12?

You should have went with "are you less than or equal to 12". D:

 

[wirednuts]

it absolutely shocks me how poor people continue to prop up the rich and defend them, just for the simple hope that maybe someday they too will be rich.

most of us make well under 100k a year, but really were lucky when we can get a job that pays 40k+ a year. and our wages have frozen or gone backwards in the last 5 years, while the price of everything else skyrockets.

part of the problem is that we dont need that much human labor anymore. theres just more people then work to go around, and technology makes that worse everyday. this is why socialism is necessary. people by nature depend on eachother to survive, and this rings true now more then it ever has, just in different ways. americans are so scared of socialism and they dont even know what it is (its all those government benefits that they cry about but use themselves when they can).

 

[Bateluer]

Inequality in wealth around the world. The top hoard all of the resources and wealth, and the bottom get nothing.

You know thats complete BS right? The wealthy don't sit and hoard all their money in giant vaults like Scrooge McDuck. These people provide countless jobs and investments, allowing you to have a job and make inane posts on the Internet. Fact is, even with the combined fortunes of the Forbes 500, you couldn't even pay off the USA's annual deficit let alone make a dent in the world's problems.

 

[JimW1949]

I am still waiting to be informed as to how someone spending millions of dollars purchasing foreign currency puts money into the hands of Americans.

 

[QuantumPion]

it absolutely shocks me how poor people continue to prop up the rich and defend them, just for the simple hope that maybe someday they too will be rich.

Well, we don't prop up the rich and defend them exactly. We prop of the system of liberty and freedom which allowed them to become rich, so that we can become rich too. And that's why I'm proud to be an American.

What shocks me is that people in the rest of the world would seem to prefer to be subjugated in serfdom if it means they don't have to try too hard in life.

 

[wirednuts]

You know thats complete BS right? The wealthy don't sit and hoard all their money in giant vaults like Scrooge McDuck. These people provide countless jobs and investments, allowing you to have a job and make inane posts on the Internet. Fact is, even with the combined fortunes of the Forbes 500, you couldn't even pay off the USA's annual deficit let alone make a dent in the world's problems.

with a combined wealth of 1 trillion dollars, they could easily make a difference in the states. of course they wouldnt help the world's economy, thats like another 6 billion people to take care of but youre right, our defense spending dwarfs all of us... i think we should go after the schoolteachers to solve this problem.

 

[Matt1970]

with a combined wealth of 1 trillion dollars, they could easily make a difference in the states. of course they wouldnt help the world's economy, thats like another 6 billion people to take care of but youre right, our defense spending dwarfs all of us... i think we should go after the schoolteachers to solve this problem.

$4 Trillion didn't seem to do much for our economy so even if it could help feed the world, it would only do it for a day, or a week, then what?

 

[Nebor]

Seems to me we are allowing the top to hoard all of the resources and wealth, while the bottom to get nothing.

Wow, I can't believe you allow that to go on. But you seem unhappy about it.... Perhaps you should stop allowing them to do that. What are you gonna do, big man?

 

[Nebor]

$4 Trillion didn't seem to do much for our economy so even if it could help feed the world, it would only do it for a day, or a week, then what?

There's no shortage of food in the world. Not even close. So money won't solve that problem. But governments control access to food in order to control people. There's not a shortage of food, there's a shortage of people that want freedom, and instead would prefer to starve under someone else's boot heel.

 

[Steeplerot]

You know thats complete BS right? The wealthy don't sit and hoard all their money in giant vaults like Scrooge McDuck

This is exactly how people get rich: By not spending money. Welcome to the real world.

Obsessive wealth accumulation is as much a manic neurosis as much as washing your hands 40000x a day. But far more destructive to society.

 

[Nebor]

This is exactly how people get rich: By not spending money. Welcome to the real world.

Clearly you're unfamiliar with the phrase "you've got to spend money to make money." Also, the real world.

 

[Jhhnn]

Well, we don't prop up the rich and defend them exactly. We prop of the system of liberty and freedom which allowed them to become rich, so that we can become rich too. And that's why I'm proud to be an American.

What shocks me is that people in the rest of the world would seem to prefer to be subjugated in serfdom if it means they don't have to try too hard in life.

Hook, line, and sinker. Your framing of the proposition assumes infinite resources. The Frontier closed over 100 years ago.

Subjugated to serfdom? I doubt that Swedes, Danes, Germans or French would think they lived as serfs, at all. Truth be told, Americans live more like serfs than they do, because they do a better job controlling the greed of their financial elite than we do. Serfs have masters, after all...

 

[Steeplerot]

Clearly you're unfamiliar with the phrase "you've got to spend money to make money." Also, the real world.

This is false, money makes money. What does a capitalist produce? Nothing. They take surplus stolen wages from workers and horde it mainly.

Need proof? Take a look at the 98% of the world who have been stolen from. Why are there so few jobs and a whole world of starving? Your idea is naive to the extreme if you look at any history at all.

Capitalist are just new new slavemasters of serfdom. You my comrade are a excellent slave who serves mastah well..

 

[matt0611]

This is exactly how people get rich: By not spending money. Welcome to the real world.

Obsessive wealth accumulation is as much a manic neurosis as much as washing your hands 40000x a day. But far more destructive to society.

And if I make millions of dollars a year and pile it up in my vault how exactly is that hurting anyone?

I'm doing work thats worth millions and getting nothing in return.

Say I was bill gates and I ran MS, what if I just burnt all my money as I got it?
I give society a company that employs thousands and provides surfaces to the entire world that makes it more productive and I get nothing in return.
How exactly is that hurting anyone?

 

[Steeplerot]

And if I make millions of dollars a year and pile it up in my vault how exactly is that hurting anyone?

I'm doing work thats worth millions and getting nothing in return.

Say I was bill gates and I ran MS, what if I just burnt all my money as I got it?
I give society a company that employs thousands and provides surfaces to the entire world that makes it more productive and I get nothing in return.
How exactly is that hurting anyone?

Because this is more libertarian nonsense using non real world examples to justify a half-assed thought out ideology. Simple.

 

[Jhhnn]

And if I make millions of dollars a year and pile it up in my vault how exactly is that hurting anyone?

I'm doing work thats worth millions and getting nothing in return.

Say I was bill gates and I ran MS, what if I just burnt all my money as I got it?
I give society a company that employs thousands and provides surfaces to the entire world that makes it more productive and I get nothing in return.
How exactly is that hurting anyone?

You'd decrease the amount of money in general circulation, and therefore the amount available to everybody else.

In the classic boom/bust scenario, credit is expanded to unsustainable levels to counteract the effect of concentration of money in the hands of a few. When the bubble bursts, those who hoarded liquidity have even more economic and political power than before, because they have the money, and because credit has evaporated. The form of money doesn't matter- it could be gold, beads, or cowrie shells.

It's the way top down class warfare has been waged for hundreds of years.

 

[matt0611]

Because this is more libertarian nonsense using non real world examples to justify a half-assed thought out ideology. Simple.

No, its a simple example to illustrate my point to the OP that "hoarding" is not evil or hurtful to the economy.

 

[matt0611]

You'd decrease the amount of money in general circulation, and therefore the amount available to everybody else.

In the classic boom/bust scenario, credit is expanded to unsustainable levels to counteract the effect of concentration of money in the hands of a few. When the bubble bursts, those who hoarded liquidity have even more economic and political power than before, because they have the money, and because credit has evaporated. The form of money doesn't matter- it could be gold, beads, or cowrie shells.

It's the way top down class warfare has been waged for hundreds of years.

Yes, it would cause slight deflation, slowly lowering prices over time.
Wouldn't do enough to cause any economic problems.
The "money" is not what people want, its the real resources in the economy that people want. Money is only an intermediary, decreasing the money supply does not change the real resources available.

If I had a printing press in my house, I would just print all the dollars I want and never work, I would be taking resources from the economy without giving anything. This also slowly erodes the value of everyones dollar holdings.

If I did the opposite, worked and just burned my salary, I am adding resources to the economy without taking anything in return, also slowly increasing the value of everyones dollar holdings.

 

[Steeplerot]

hoarding" is not evil or hurtful to the economy.

Hoarding has always been a net negative as you are removing labor produced by workers off the market creating a net loss for all as far as oppurtunity. Period.

The rich do not know better then us what to do with our money. If they did then why do we have world hunger and so much unemployment when there are plenty of resources for all?


You are being conned.

 

[matt0611]

Hoarding has always been a net negative as you are removing labor produced by workers off the market creating a net loss for all as far as oppurtunity. Period.

The rich do not know better then us what to do with our money. If they did then why do we have world hunger and so much unemployment when there are plenty of resources for all? You are being conned.

Huh? The labor produced by workers?
The labor of the workers went into the product they created.
It has nothing to do with the money used to purchase their labor.