@mk Regardless if thats true or not, it still isnt about the OP. I have no objection discussing the bigger problem, but that would deserve its own thread, not hijacking one of an unrelated topic.
@mk The original post is about wealth not being a 0-sum game. No matter how much some have that does not imply others had to have less for them to have more.
To put that in simple language. If the whole world had only two people, and one had X wealth, the other Y wealth, it is possible (and in fact fairly common ) that both values can increase over time. In otherwords, everyone can get more wealth without anyone loosing wealth. Over time that has overwhelmingly been the case as is evident by the fact that we arent still living in caves.
here's andrew #tate talking about it this subject.
00:00:12 "you cannot make money. you're not the Federal Reserve[..]all of us take money from somebody else[..]next time you buy a coffee. don't just buy the coffee[..]why am I buying this coffee?[..]why am I buying here?[..]is there any competition around?"
@mk Again posting this just shows you need tor ead up ont he base concepts first... see how your quote doesnt have the word "wealth" anywhere in it... that should be a clue to you. Wealth is NOT money.
It’s might not strictly be a zero sum within a company (presumably it’s value goes up and down) and sure, a company can increase its value and we would typically expect that gain (or loss) to be sent to the owners of that company.
On the employee level it feels like it’s closer to zero sum though, and maybe that’s just a perception thing. While relative CEO pay has gone up over the years I guess you can’t necessarily disentangle whether that increase comes out of the pool of wages available to all employees or whether it’s coming out of the pool of money that could be going back to investors. I guess I should go see if economists have any papers on that
Honestly even within a company it isnt a 0-sum game, it just might be hard to see. I think it is most obvious (though not limited to) companies that sell a product, particularly when manufactured from raw products.
If I am a lumber company then cut and cured lumber has more value than a tree the dead trees I buy.. so generation of new wealth is clear and easy to quantify,
I mostly agree with your original point that on the macro level that wealth isn’t a zero sum game (though it can certainly be a lot closer to one within a company).
Saying that the existence of rich people isn’t a red flag is a different and interesting argument, but I don’t want to hijack your thread