Almost the entire discussion over “distribution of wealth” seems to be based upon a major fallacy. Practically every proposal or debate I ever see on the subject contains the sometimes implied and sometimes implicitly stated assumption that there exists a certain amount of a thing called “wealth” in a big pie for society and that the entire question is how this pie is to be divided up among people who deserve to have it.
This view is fundamentally wrong.
The real world does not work the way people who make these arguments think it works. Because life, and the creation and therefore the “distribution” of wealth, is not a zero sum game.
Because:
Wealth is created every single day out of nothing more than the light from the sun, the dirt in the ground and the creative thoughts and desires of human beings.
THIS IS A STUB ARTICLE WHICH WILL EXPAND ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:
The fallacy of the zero sum game is destructive to the production of actual wealth because it argues for disincentivizing wealth creation by both rich and disadvantaged people.
Wealth actually is created by the human mind. (See article on the source of wealth.)
The physical source of wealth actually is the light from the sun and the dirt in the ground. All energy is ultimately sourced from the sun. All resources come from the ground.
The planet cannot possibly maintain more than a billion people. And yet we now have over seven billion. Because of applied creativity.
And guess what – there is less total poverty now than when we had fewer people.
Also: As nations grow in wealth, their population increases slow down and sometimes reverses. There are problems with population decrease in Japan and Russia.
Need to look up references for the productivity of farming.
Yes, some resources are being depleted. But they can be managed. We have very little “virgin” forest left in the United States. But we have vast amounts of managed, re-planted forest that is continually harvested and used on a controlled basis.
We can do the same with other food such as fish and other sources of food in the sea.
And ultimately, if we need to, we can mine asteroids. We ultimately have a literally unlimited supply of sources of wealth.