In a free society, wealth inevitably grows unequally. That's because...
· Comment — Skye Stewart's post · View on Facebook · Markdown source
In a free society, wealth inevitably grows unequally. That's because some people produce goods and services that are in greater demand than others. For example, the number of people willing to buy tickets to see LeBron James far outstrips the number of people willing to buy tickets to see Caitlin Clark. The wealth of LeBron James will therefore grow much faster than the wealth of Caitlin Clark. This is an inevitable consequence of people having the freedom to spend their money as they see fit. But wealth is not a fixed pie, and wealth creation is not a zero sum game--the wealth of both LeBron James and Caitlin Clark can grow simultaneously, even if LeBron's wealth grows much faster. And the same principle applies more broadly--the median wealth per capita in the US has grown substantially over time. Now, to be sure, some wealthy people gain their wealth unethically, such as by lobbying government for subsidies or regulatory moats. We should work to stop their immoral behavior. And some people lose wealth for a variety of reasons: disease, accidents, bad investments, and drug abuse, to name a few. We should try to help those people, especially those who are impoverished through no fault of their own. But we should not let efforts to try to reduce rentseeking and poverty destroy the underlying conditions that foster wealth creation in the first place: private property rights, free trade, and free speech, to name a few.