Support
Generally, supporters defending wealth concentration also support capitalism. They argue that, the principal assumption that wealth is neither created nor destroyed but rather shifted, is wrong. Wealth is not a zero sum game and thus wealth collected by the wealthy might not be distributable to the poor anyhow. They argue that over the course of human history, total global wealth has grown over the last several centuries, and therefore, investors may reap large economic benefits, and the side effect of investment is the creation of new jobs and industries that increase the overall standard of living for anyone participating in the market. Opponents argue that an increase in economic and social inequality, results in a reduction in the standard of living. In response, neoclassical economics dictates that if a business decreases the standard of living for people participating in the market, participants will exit the market until the business cannot function (that is, bad businesses go bankrupt). Even though there is a priority of who's standard of living is most worth increasing, they will all be increased overall, since none are actually "decreased." For defenses of economic inequality, see the article for Equality of outcome.
Read more about this topic: Wealth Concentration
Famous quotes containing the word support:
“She isn’t harassed. She’s busy, and it’s glamorous to be busy. Indeed, the image of the on- the-go working mother is very like the glamorous image of the busy top executive. The scarcity of the working mother’s time seems like the scarcity of the top executive’s time.... The analogy between the busy working mother and the busy top executive obscures the wage gap between them at work, and their different amounts of backstage support at home.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“But look what we have built ... low-income projects that become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.... Cultural centers that are unable to support a good bookstore. Civic centers that are avoided by everyone but bums.... Promenades that go from no place to nowhere and have no promenaders. Expressways that eviscerate great cities. This is not the rebuilding of cities. This is the sacking of cities.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)
“Three factors—the belief that child care is female work, the failure of ex-husbands to support their children, and higher male wages at work—have taken the economic rug from under that half of married women who divorce.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)