Bad Luck

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck.”

― Robert A. Heinlein


I'm a little hesitant at quoting Robert A Heinlein; I have read the majority of his science fiction output, and certainly don't agree with all of his apparent ideas, but in this case I think he has a point.

The point in question is made in more detail by Daniel Hannan:

http://www.capx.co/nelson-mandela-was-wrong-about-poverty/

One thing that leftists don't seem to take into account is that wealth is not a static thing - there isn't a fixed amount to be shared out; instead, wealth is dynamic, with it constantly being destroyed as well as created.

(If you find that concept a little alien, think of the most basic forms of wealth creation: the production of food. Food, once harvested, has a value, but not once it has been consumed; moreover, even when not consumed, it mostly deteriorates over time. It's similar with other forms of wealth; who wants a 10 year old mobile phone? Even houses wear out eventually.)

Of course, a large proportion of economic activity is neutral, and just shifts wealth from one person to another: for example, a rock concert can hardly be said to create any lasting value.

Therefore, if a large number of people are engaged in activities that do not create any lasting wealth, and yet are consuming wealth themselves, then it surely must follow that others are creating a substantial amount of wealth, enough to account for the wealth consumed/destroyed by everyone else, with what's left over accounting for economic growth.

On a personal level, how many people genuinely create the wealth themselves that they consume? If not, then they are dependent upon those who do create wealth.

My impression is that we, as a society, having progressed so far from an agricultural economy, have become dependent for our standard of living on a very small minority of wealth creators. The point being that, if we do anything to deter them, our own standard of living will surely suffer grievously.