The effect of income equality on societies...

[Kasz216]

johnlucas said:

Kasz216 said:

johnlucas said:
The thing people have to understand about the monetary system is that it is a ZERO-SUM GAME.
That is a FACT.

Er... no it isn't... and even the most(I'd actually say all, but who knows there might be like 2 people with economics degress out there who disagree) leftwing economists would disagree with you.

Additionally, water actually isn't abundant... and I'd argue you don't really know what your talking about when it comes to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

For example, Water and Air weren't ranked, and were in the same level.

Additionally, in a desert Oasis, you'd take the food.

In modern society, you'd take the gold, then buy food, and a bunch of otherstuff....

All your arguement did was highlight exactly why rarity is an important factor to price controls.

If I tried to trade you a bottle of air right now... would you trade me a piece of gold for it right now?  Or some money? 

Can't breathe money afterall.

Um...yes it is. If everybody's a millionaire, then no one is rich.

So... using this logic.  The richest people in Colombia are richer then the richest people in the United States.

Money represents wealth.  Wealth is something that rises and shrinks as things happen and products are created.

 

Even if you were to consider only essentials to have value, food shortages would cause the "price" of food to raise... and an abundance of food would cause it's "price" to shrink.. even in a world without money.

 

Why is gold worth more then food?  Illusion?  Hell no.  If there was a food shortage like you said, food would be more valuable.   Gold is worth more then food because there ISN'T a food shortage.

Like I said before, you wouldn't trade a bottle of air for money or gold... why is that?  

Because we have all the air we could ever need for free.  So who in their right mind would pay for it?

Why is food cheap?  Again because it's fairly abundent and easy to grow and there isn't a shortage of it in the western world.  Why is it more expensive in other areas.... rarity?

Why do Ipods cost so much in comparison to food?  Because they're more scarce and more labor intensive.

This existed long before money ever existed, even during the barter system value was based on rarity, not importance to basic life skills.

Afterall, if I can forage myself food, why am I going to give away something I like which there are only a few of for it?