The Merchant Republics wrote:The Rich Port wrote:... You don't know that.
What if your giant mansion house is just encroaching on his desires? Even if he did want to build a giant mansion, too, and get in a deal with Mr. Boathouse similar to the one Mr. Rich guy had, how can he? There no longer is any space to do such a thing.
Simply because one is old, crotchety, and... Not rich, doesn't mean he or she doesn't have any value. They just lack the same opportunities Mr. Rich and Mr. Boathouse had. Nobody taught him anything growing up, his family died when he was young, and now your giant mansion has driven off everyone he considered friends because they don't fit in either.
Well.
1. This is my scenario, so I decide who is who.
2. The point I was attempting to get across is that wealth accumulation has a basic genesis in reciprocal altruism, you give a gift, the receiver gives one in return. By being the most helpful to others you accumulate the most gifts. Mr. Rich lives in a mansion because he choose to be helpful, Mr. Poor doesn't want to help anyone, and while he has received gifts, he's rarely given any in return, so he has a lonely shack to himself. There is no reason to make Mr. Rich give up the gifts he receives simply because Mr. Poor has less than he, Mr. Poor doesn't deserve anyone's gifts.
1.) This is OUR scenario now, rich boy.
2.) Mr. Poor probably doesn't want anything because he already had everything from the start: his friends, his family, and his land. When life took away the family part and you took away the friends part, he can't afford to give you anything except his land, and any gift you give him will be a futile attempt at courtesy: what do you give the man who already had everything? A boat? A bigger house? Unless the scenario is a futuristic place where they've perfected cloning and regressive aging, and you can buy him his family back, Mr. Poor has only contempt for you.
The point I'M trying to make is that economics is more than just a game of numbers: it's a social, psychological, ethical, and cultural game as well. The poor aren't poor because they WANT to be poor. Unless Mr. Rich wants to play the updated version of the game that might just compromise a bit of his property rights, the people around him will suffer. And then, the only gift Mr. Rich will get is a bunch of protestors outside his house.
My own update:
3.) Mr. Poor was pretty fine until Mr. Rich built his giant mansion. You gulp up the resources, others can't adapt, shit starts to happen, people start to starve and get unhappy.
On another note: I don't like to stereotype. If you'll remember, I'm not Mr. Rich. I'm the guy in the shack. Do you really subscribe to this Darwinian survival schtick?