The 6 Pack Economist

Eating the rich has always been sort of a sport for most of human history. Unfortunately eating rich people is like eating your seed stock or slaughtering your birthing age cows. Sure the seeds make great bread and the cows make for a really succulent steak sandwich, you will starve later.

If you don’t believe me, when was the last time you worked for a poor person? Ok all of you social workers sit down those people don’t actually pay you. As much as I don’t really like mega-rich people, especially those that did nothing to get it besides win the vagina lottery. They are a necessary evil. They are the only ones that have enough disposable income to invest it into non-consumption based spending. In other words expanding supply by investment.

During a recession or depression (depending on your own personal employment status) there seems to be an excess supply of goods (and services) and a non-existent supply of money. This is only a short term situation. Soon the excess supply will be sold when the price is lowered enough and new goods will need to be produced. Unfortunately the people who owned the original production facilities were turned from rich producers to a rather succulent casserole by those less fortunate.

Unfortunately we normally do not see farther than our own noses when it comes to economics. Part of this is natural, after-all when faced with starvation we look to find food first. But if we eat next year’s food crop to eat for today we will only starve worse later. The more we as a people continue to take from those of us who are successful and give it to those that are not successful the more we eat our seed crop. I should also state that in reality rarely to the less successful actually see a bounty from those that are successful. Usually what happens is the money is transferred from the successful to the politically connected successful.
People have to remember that we are not rich or poor based on the money in our check accounts or stock portfolio but in our relationship to everyone else. And I don’t mean some squishy love crap I mean that if everyone else has the same as you then you are all poor.

And I prefer my “rich people” with a little butter and a nice merlot reduction.