21–30 of 126 posts
You’d have economic prosperity like in the USA between 1945 and 1970.
Doesn't seem like something you could replicate worldwide. Not all countries can be winners all the time.
*edited for clarity
You’d have economic prosperity like in the USA between 1945 and 1970.
Macro-analyses like this aren't particularly representative of any relevant point. For one thing GDP is a poor measure of the general increases of wealth. The US's pivot to services isn't represented in GDP since it only accurately measures physical production (Microsoft/Google/Facebook etc. aren't accurately represented). The actual increases that wind up going into salaries (particularly at the top half) are heavil…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Neither Gates, nor Jobs, nor Zuckerberg, nor Bezos, nor Musk inherited their billions. At best they inherited access to the social circles of their parents, and maybe paid-for education (too lazy to check). Knowing the right people is not something you can, or want, to limit or forbid. Should anyone suggest to prevent passing as much as, say, $100k to your child (an approximate price of a university tuition), said an…
Yeah, but they benefited from a system that coerces people to trade their labor for less than it is worth. Zuckerberg is worth >3x the annual income of all surgeons in the US. It is implausible that his net worth reflects his replacement cost. Even PG has said (to Zuckerberg) that if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else.
> It is implausible that his net worth reflects his replacement cost.
Why should it? His net worth reflects the expected value of the portion of Facebook that he owns. Why would it have anything to do with his replacement cost?
I always like to say that we live in an exponential meritocracy , where your accumulated merit enhances your ability to accumulate more merit, eventually resulting in a small minority rapidly pulling ahead of the pack. Goes with the old adage: turning $100 into $120 is work; turning $100 million into $120 million is inevitable. Perhaps we need a linear meritocratic function.
>Perhaps we need a linear meritocratic function. So basically, some way to prevent wealth from being passed across generations?
How can we better incentivize those with wealth into investing it productively.
Or perhaps, how can we incentivize the wealthy into investing in increasing the rate of growth of the real standard of living for everyone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Perhaps we need a linear meritocratic function. So basically, some way to prevent wealth from being passed across generations?
Neither Gates, nor Jobs, nor Zuckerberg, nor Bezos, nor Musk inherited their billions. At best they inherited access to the social circles of their parents, and maybe paid-for education (too lazy to check). Knowing the right people is not something you can, or want, to limit or forbid. Should anyone suggest to prevent passing as much as, say, $100k to your child (an approximate price of a university tuition), said an…
It's a lot riskier to be an entrepreneur when you're living paycheck to paycheck and don't have a family fortune to fall back on.
Extraordinary people also often have extraordinary childhoods. Most teenagers can't borrow their dad's private jet to go sell emeralds to Tiffany&Co, but I imagine that sort of experience comes in handy for a businessman
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, but they benefited from a system that coerces people to trade their labor for less than it is worth. Zuckerberg is worth >3x the annual income of all surgeons in the US. It is implausible that his net worth reflects his replacement cost. Even PG has said (to Zuckerberg) that if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else.
The amount of value you can obtain by trading something is by definition what it is worth. If nobody is willing to pay you an amount for something, it's not worth that much. > It is implausible that his net worth reflects his replacement cost. Why should it? His net worth reflects the expected value of the portion of Facebook that he owns. Why would it have anything to do with his replacement cost?
As a society, the only thing that we take out of Zuckerberg is his labour, so he shouldn't get anymore than the replacement cost of his labour. In other words, if someone would have done Zuckerberg's work for less compensation - and the GP asserts it is the case - then we as a society lose by having Zuckerberg do it instead of the lower compensated alternative.
In other words, when someone gets paid more than their replacement cost, there is a market inefficiency that causes loss to the vast majority.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The amount of value you can obtain by trading something is by definition what it is worth. If nobody is willing to pay you an amount for something, it's not worth that much. > It is implausible that his net worth reflects his replacement cost. Why should it? His net worth reflects the expected value of the portion of Facebook that he owns. Why would it have anything to do with his replacement cost?
Hmm, not really. The cost of labour is actually generally agreed to be the replacement cost of the labour. As a society, the only thing that we take out of Zuckerberg is his labour, so he shouldn't get anymore than the replacement cost of his labour. In other words, if someone would have done Zuckerberg's work for less compensation - and the GP asserts it is the case - then we as a society lose by having Zuckerberg d…
Zuckerberg is not employed by society. We're not all collectively paying him a salary.
If you're saying we should completely abolish private property, that's a different thing altogether.
I always like to say that we live in an exponential meritocracy , where your accumulated merit enhances your ability to accumulate more merit, eventually resulting in a small minority rapidly pulling ahead of the pack. Goes with the old adage: turning $100 into $120 is work; turning $100 million into $120 million is inevitable. Perhaps we need a linear meritocratic function.
Another way to say this is that 65% of the wealthiest people were born into the top 5%.
http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ufe/legacy_url/410/Born...