I often here claims that the top 1% of Americans posses 90% of the wealth. The numbers vary but this raises the question of what is wealth and where does it come from.

It seems that many view wealth as if it were a natural resource that certain people hoard and keep from others. But, if you look at what wealth really is, wealth is something that people produce. It is not a resource that belongs to the masses, it is the product of ones actions and ones labor. Wealth is therefore not finite but infinite to a large extent. Even if one literally had all the money in the world he would have to spend it in exchange for the goods and services produced by others. Every able bodied man has the ability to create wealth with little more than enough food to fuel his muscles and brain.

Looking at wealth as a product and not as a resource, many popular arguments fall flat on their face. Specifically the argument that Capitalism is unfair because group X has Y amount of "the wealth." There is no such thing as "the wealth" only wealth. So, while it may be true that group X possesses much more wealth, there is no percentage that can be ascribed because in order to have a percentage you need a base number which in this case is irrational.

Arguments of oppression of minorities also fall on their face. Yes it is true that if you refuse to hire minorities they will have a harder time building wealth than others. But this does not stop them from creating their own wealth. The largest employer in the US is the small business and many of these business' are built from the ground up so building one's own wealth is not insurmountable.

So the next time you hear an argument that points to control of "the wealth" as proof of anything, remind the person that the term "the wealth" is a misnomer and there is actually no such thing. People create wealth, it is not a limited resource.

im the richest man in the world.,.,i have all the love in the world.,.,and i have no money.,.,said they wont take my love in the bank.,.,

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Replace the word " Wealth" with the word Capital and it makes more sense that way.

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It is far easier to ignorantly control others than it is to wisely control yourself.

No it doesn't. Capital like wealth comes in many forms. Aside from the obvious there is human capital which is an awesome force for wealth building. I trust you have heard the phrase "it's not what you know but who you know." There is intelligence, skill, talent, etc. A highly skilled tattoo artist makes a fortune these days and he can do it with little cash.

I think when people refer to "the wealth" they are referring to the aggregate of everyone's net worth vs the individual. But this is just a measure of what one has produced, not of how much of the hypothetical pie one has.

"wealth" is a lot of money on paper.

If you disagree - tell me how the top 3 lost 68 BILLION dollars in 12 months. 1.4 TRILLION dollars of "wealth" has vaporized in the last 12 months.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/wor...ires_land.html

people need a base certain amount of "wealth" to live. period. and the statistics that are important are the distribution of wealth over time. the wealthy are getting wealthier while the middle class and the poor are becoming less wealthy. there is a breaking point where society will collapse to some degree. believe it.

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"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T.S. Eliott

You mean people need to produce a certain amount of wealth to live. This is true but the amount varies as does the means.

You have to be careful with terms like "distribution of wealth." Distribution can suggest a distributor and there is no distributor in a free market. People create wealth in different amounts, that is not wealth being distributed but merely a snapshot of wealth being created at any given time.

Again, it is a mistake to look at wealth as a big pie with some getting a bigger slice than others. It is more correct to look at wealth as a continuously expanding pie shop with each person paid according to how many pies he produces.

But the wealth of the rich is tied to the activities of the poor - middle class.

It is like a slave owner with sick / injured slaves. They can't make money if their workforce isn't working.

Just like a worker not only supplies production, but they also support consumption. Nobody becomes rich when people aren't producing, and don't have money to buy anything.

It is like an economic price-specie flow

Wealthy people write Rich peoples checks.

How long you can live without earning money through working is a great way to define wealth.

I'm in real estate. Have been for 15 years...right out of high school. I'm in commercial/multi family. Most of my clients own large apartment buildings or nice stip malls. Some newer Class A self storage.

We all agree that equity in real estate should not be on your Personal Financial Statement as an asset. Your cash flow should. Equity is terribly over rated and many people add this to their net worth...giving them this inflated figure and confindence about their financial stability. The fact is that most with "equity" have zero return on this equity. Most who claim "cash flow" don't calculate it right. So what good is it. Even in hot markets it takes months to access this equity.

Real estate is a liability. Even when it's paid off it's still at risk to be taken from you.

Your pursuit of equity should never trump your pursuit of income. Many have lost their ass with equity but are still earning income. This is good real estate. Values down but income is stable. This is one way to create wealth regardless of value.

I have no college degree. No fancy education. But since the age of 18 a lot of money has passed through my office. I see where people go wrong with a lot of things. Not just real estate.

Your ability to passively earn income and live a prosperous life is wealth. Equity is not wealth.

I could go on...

Ah geez. I just read some posts here. Is this a discussion about wealth and it's definition or a discussion about politics, socialism, racism etc. C'mon guys. Sometimes it's just good to talk about making money without politics.

Really...