Richest 1% on target to own two-thirds of all wealth by 2030

Re:Richest 1% on target to own two-thirds of all wealth by 2030 by psyc on Saturday April 07, 2018 @02:30PM (#16782022)

I basically agree with your first sentence. Specifically, I don't believe capitalism itself is the root problem, but rather something like a deficit in social cohesion. No sense that we're fellow humans collectively struggling towards a better society. That sense doesn't necessarily imply a communist implementation. It could mean something as simple as an ethos in which those who are better off try to help others up. I couldn't begin to address how that might come about, and I'm as wary as anyone about trying to use a State to do it. Because the State never actually turns out to be the People, except in the naive or fanciful abstract.

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Re:Richest 1% on target to own two-thirds of all wealth by 2030 by charlesdm on Saturday April 07, 2018 @03:46PM (#16782473)

Capitalism works fine, the only 'flaw' I think it has is that excessive capital can compound way too fast.

If you have $10m, and you invest that really really really well, you might be making 10 to 30% on that capital. Maybe more if you're an entrepreneur investing strategically. That's fine.

But let's say you're worth $1bn, and you compound at 10% per year.. you're making money hand over fist. Add smart use of debt to that, and that's probably too much rent seeking to be healthy.

Basically, once you pass a few 100 million, I think it gets really unfair. Below.. it doesn't really matter. No one will live in poverty because someone owns $100m -- it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But wealth is a snowball that doesn't grow fast enough on the low end, and too fast on the high end.

The only way to fix that would probably be a global wealth tax, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

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