by Sixstrings » Sun 13 Nov 2011, 21:49:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Novus', '
')Wealth is created by working people making useful things by hand if necessary. The problem is the rich are taking the wealth created by the people and keeping it for themselves ....
I'm really enjoying your posts on the debt issue, Novus. You are saying a lot of important things. However, the Marxist idea that wealth is "created by working people making useful things" vastly oversimplifies the actual nature of modern economies.
Yes, working people create wealth through their labor. But wealth can also take the form of gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, etc.
Farm ownership conveys wealth. So does the ownership of trailerparks, oyster farms, business parks or almost any kind of real estate.
Oil in the ground conveys wealth, and so does the ownership of natural gas or coal or a woodlot or any kind of energy.
And even ownership of stocks creates wealth. Just ask Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.

We're getting WAY too theoretical here. Bottom line is that income and wealth disparity is out of whack in the US:
Let's not muddy the waters with Marx and the nature of wealth blah blah blah..
, it's not about communism and Marx, the nation is becoming impoverished and the fat cats have so much damn money they have nothing to do with it other than pump up commodities and buy Farmville / Groupon stock. And then the damn market still needs propped up with Fed printing press money anyway.
The other big problem we have is that fiat capitalism itself is dying.. this is end stage capitalism, worldwide.. debts are going exponential now regardless of how much austerity we do -- we have to print more and more just to service existing debt and provide system liquidity on top of that. But it's a negative debt trap now, new money isn't really being created just more and more debt, which needs more printing to service it and on and on.