where does wealth come from

[pigface]

For one human to become wealthy (in a monetary sense) does another human necessarily have to be exploited. Also, could all the people on the planet, in theory, become equally wealthy, for example if we got to a situation where robots could do all our 'work' for us. I'm fully aware that this wouldn't happen in real life though.

[Sylday]

Theoretically, it isn't necessary for people to exploit each other to create wealth or for some citizens to have a higher standard of living than others. A socialist society in which everything is held in common, and individuals would be rewarded according to their contributions to society - so a doctor, for example, would be paid more than a clerk - is possible IN THEORY. The problem is that whenever this sort of system is tried out - as in the USSR - it just doesn't work in practice; some people cream off more than they deserve, and the lack of competition leads to a sluggish economy as compared to capitalist economies. Like it or not, human beings seem programmed through evolution to prefer economies involving a reasonable degree of competition (with the risk of their being one of the losers) to a low risk economy where there is little opportunity for advancement but an assured basic standard of living.

[smudge]

Believe me, wealth comes from being plain tight! All the people I know who 'get by' are very kind & giving. All the people I know who are 'now' well off, are so tight, they wouldn't p**s on you if you were on fire! You know, the sort who are always the last one at the bar!

[secretspirit]

But they're the ones nobody likes Smudge! I think that however harsh it sounds for someone to be 'rich' another has to be poor because you need a comparison. I suppose the ones at the bottom of the chain don't necessarily have to be exploited (by the introduction of minimum wages and the Fair Trade system etc) but the people at the top always have a lot more reward or what would be the incentive to get there? Adding to what Sylday said with communism they experimented with paying everyone the same rate to do every job and people just wanted the easiest ones or didn't work hard.

[smudge]

I know!

[worder]

no it is not necesary, but some people love to step on others , and make money out of it. i know, i was married to a slave driver, all the money he made was during our marriage. used to tell me how we could be multimillionaires had he met me 20 years before. i had to live in a homeless shelter with 3 kids for 2 months because, while getting my divorce, the guy refused to pay rent on a decent place, or any place for that matter. in the meantime, we had more money in the bank than many people make in a lifetime. one time, i made us 50,000 dollars in one day. i helped make someone despicable a rich man. other people, my dad for instance worked hard all his life to get the property he and my mother owned, he gave the shirt off his back to help anyone he could. so you see, you do not have to be a pig to have something in life, but some people just are.

[smudge]

I really do sympathise with you worder, which is what I was trying to explain earlier.