Anyone know?
How Is Wealth Created?
- Thread starter thoughtone
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Most people consider wealth to be the possession of a certain amount of money, a high amount. So in a purely economic framework (not talking about those with political power, government, taxes, or outright stealing, etc.) I don't think wealth is so much created as money is accumulated until someone may have enough that some others consider that person wealthy.
So I would answer the question more along the lines of how is money accumulated. Again, under a purely economic framework, money is accumulated from providing/exchanging a service or product that others choose to exchange their money for. You can become wealthy by there being a high enough demand for the product or service that a large enough number of people want what you are offering or what you are offering is valued at such a high price that people will choose to pay that price for your product or service.
Most people of the so-called wealthy in this country are so because someone freely chose to give them this money because they wanted something the person was offering. Most, not all of course. And it's a wonderful thing that people can become "wealthy" in such a manner.
One.
So I would answer the question more along the lines of how is money accumulated. Again, under a purely economic framework, money is accumulated from providing/exchanging a service or product that others choose to exchange their money for. You can become wealthy by there being a high enough demand for the product or service that a large enough number of people want what you are offering or what you are offering is valued at such a high price that people will choose to pay that price for your product or service.
Most people of the so-called wealthy in this country are so because someone freely chose to give them this money because they wanted something the person was offering. Most, not all of course. And it's a wonderful thing that people can become "wealthy" in such a manner.
One.
it's a 2-part answer:
1) you must provide a good or service that people want
2) you must save!
You could factor in the capital injections (printing money) by the Fed and understand why the value of the dollar is diminishing but thats another thread
I could go into capital accumulation and all but that should be enought to get you started
1) you must provide a good or service that people want
2) you must save!
You could factor in the capital injections (printing money) by the Fed and understand why the value of the dollar is diminishing but thats another thread
I could go into capital accumulation and all but that should be enought to get you started
WRONG!
Lamarr is partially correct. The operative word is CREATED.
Try again.
Lamarr is partially correct. The operative word is CREATED.
Try again.
but here we go!please identify which function does not create wealth
Yes I think labor is the way to do it. That is how things are created. Money, which is simply a medium for the exchange of resources, is mankind's greatest tool to incentivize labor and therefore creation.
No, people don't create things simply for money but it's use as a medium for the exchange of resources is the key component that allows the world to undertake the enormous and constant mass production, exchange, and development that most of humanity takes for granted. Either money or capital and some type of labor typically are and should almost always work in conjunction with one another.
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Seriously, How do you come up with this sh*t?
I just got off the floor from laughin because your statement, as it reads, is telling me that all those people in the old Soviet Union worked for the govt so they can get wealthy. Everybody had a job and we see how that shit turned out
hunger
desire
hardcore focus
vision
will
and most of all discipline
and not necessarily in that order
desire
hardcore focus
vision
will
and most of all discipline
and not necessarily in that order
Give this man a gold star. A tree is carved into a furniture. Oil is extracted from the earth. Ore is refined in to metal which is fashioned in to an automobile.
Once the goods are created, then at each step the value increases.
Seriously, How do you come up with this sh*t?
I just got off the floor from laughin because your statement, as it reads, is telling me that all those people in the old Soviet Union worked for the govt so they can get wealthy. Everybody had a job and we see how that shit turned out
Your political leanings are exposing your ignorance.
I never said that the laborers got wealthy from their labor, I asked how is wealth created. Since when has any laborer every gotten wealthy from their work? Doesn't happen in socialism and it surely doesn't happen in capitalism! The old Soviet Union was a wealthy nation. What other nation has had the technical knowledge and manufacturing prowest to explore space other than the USA?
As BrainChild09 stated, Lamarr you are talking about making money. Their are many countries that are great at making money that have accumulated wealth and their are many countries that have a lot of labor, but very little wealth. African is replete with nations that have valuable resources and labor to extract them, but little wealth.
My point is all wealth begins with labor, but the distribution of that wealth is purely political!
Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations
Karl Marx: Communist Manifesto
Wealth comes from the accumulation of profit. Profit comes from selling something for more than you paid to provide it to the buyer. That process is called adding value. It is usually labor related, but not always. If I sell somebody the rights to cut trees on my land for furniture, I did not use labor to generate that profit. However, the furniture make makes a profit using thier labor to take the tree from forest to market. It becomes politicized by either the wealthy becoming greedy, or the armed unproductive (military/government/royalty) looking to confiscate at least some of the profit.
it's never political when discussing the creation of wealth
it goes back to my first post in this thread. What you & others are failing to acknowledge is Capital Formation. That is a result of saving. As you've stated, labor is a component for creating wealth, well.......the natural question that follows is: Who are you working for & why him/her? Because they have saved / accumulated capital, therefore they can invest
The noble thing about private capitalism is that it forces those who may only be motivated by personal gain to increase the standard of living of others.
I'd go out on a limb & say Africa is probably the richest continent on the planet in terms of precious metals & natural resources. They should stop listenin to the IMF & get out of the UN.
I said nothing about the distribution of wealth
Like I said:
I don't agree that the distribution of wealth is absolutely political by its very nature. The Wealth of Nations doesn't describe a political system, it describes an economic one. What's important is that this economic system cannot exist under certain types of political systems, particularly any system that exerts significant state control over the economy. So primarily socialist systems clearly cannot allow the type of free market economy that Adam Smith described and advocated for.
Certainly the economic system of any locality, state, or country cannot be completely separated from its political system. But the a free market system of trade most immediate relationship to the state is that state's laws concerning things like property rights, fraud, etc. This of course is very important, especially under capitalism. The distribution so called of the wealth, however, isn't an intrinsically political characteristic of capitalism. When politicians interfere with such things as wealth's "distribution" then at that point the economic system can no longer be called capitalism. It can become a number of things, corporatism for example, which is closer to what we have in America than capitalism unfortunately.
it's never political when discussing the creation of wealth
it goes back to my first post in this thread. What you & others are failing to acknowledge is Capital Formation. That is a result of saving. As you've stated, labor is a component for creating wealth, well.......the natural question that follows is: Who are you working for & why him/her? Because they have saved / accumulated capital, therefore they can invest
The noble thing about private capitalism is that it forces those who may only be motivated by personal gain to increase the standard of living of others.
I'd go out on a limb & say Africa is probably the richest continent on the planet in terms of precious metals & natural resources. They should stop listenin to the IMF & get out of the UN.
I said nothing about the distribution of wealth
Like I said:
Yes, capital formation is essential. I understand what you're talking about completely. I was trying to stay at the absolute surface with my first answer. You already know where the OP was headed with the original question.
Wealth, it's creation and distribution are all political. Materials that create wealth comes from the Earth and since ownership of property is political so is what we call wealth. Thats why the fair distribution of the Earth's wealth has lead to competing political systems and parties. So whether wealth would exist without human labor is the issue and from all practical observations it would exist with or without labor so wealth is not created it is refined, distributed and accumulated.
you mean financial wealth.
mental, physical, sexual sound health is wealth to me.
Hey to each his own.
Weird.
You actually know the concept of wealth is a political term.
I would just change Earth's wealth to Earth's resources and agree with this.
The concept of wealth is a trick used by the State to keep the subjects in line.
True but labor and the titles and social designations that goes along with it are what really keep us in line. I think thats why more so-called rich people are going into politics. They are starting to realize that money without political power isn't much different than being broke. They are both political designations assigned by the state and they can easily be reversed by people with real power.
Can't argue with this.
You may be on to something here.
It would explain a few things.
a ghost, right ?
QueEx
Funny, Que. I just pop up from here to there. I am raising two extra kids, and some of the folks in here are too obtuse to tolerate, especially when they just avoid answers and go on polemical screeds. I will try to post a bit more, but too often its a "casting pearls before swine" thing. I hope all is well with you and yours.
The hell it doesn't. Smith describes his disdain for the "factions," now referred to as special interests, which the "masters," what he describes as the property owners and management, used to manipulate the balance of power between labor (workers and skilled craftsman) and themselves.
He also described how the craft guilds would organize as a collective group to pool their common interests as a way to further improve their bargaining strengths with the "masters" and maintain maximum prices for their labors.
In Wealth, Smith states that the courts at that time in 16th century England came down hard on organized labor. Wow the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Did you read Wealth of Nations?
How can wealth be created is a good question. There has to be a way to do it besides using the earth's resources. The U.S economy is stalling because the idea of using information and service to created wealth failed but that doesn't mean it can't be done. People need to start kicking some ideas about wealth creation if we don't find alternatives to the way it's done now the middle class will disappear.
There has to be a way to do it besides using the earth's resources? What does that mean? Everything uses earth's resources.
There has to be a way to do it besides using the earth's resources? I don't think you mean this literally so what do you mean?
I do mean doing it without using the earth's resources because they are monopolized by govts and business. If there were other ways to create wealth then it would level the playing field and get that class of people off our backs. Maybe there is no other way to create wealth but its something to think about. We can create demand, value, markets so there must be a way to create wealth too.