Money isn't' Wealth
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
November 10, 2007 2:29pm CST
money isn't wealth and making money doesn't create wealth.
Wealth is Opportunity. Employees who work for their wages, never looking for opportunity for more, never create wealth, no matter how much their income may be. Their contribution to society begins and ends with the widget they make and the consumer goods they buy.
That is not to say that the worker isn't necessary, obviously wealth cannot be created without them. They are a tool, which is also all money is. Without the tools no one can create wealth, but in the end, it isn't the tool that builds, but the one using the tool.
Those who create opportunity are what makes a society prosperous.
3 people like this
10 responses
@bravenewworld (746)
• United States
11 Nov 07
I must admit, I don't fully follow the logic of this. Or rather, I'm not sure I'd come to the same conclusions.
Workers create, and owners make money by not paying a wage corresponding to the value of what is created, hence they profit (capitalize) on the endeavor of the workers. There's some risk in putting up the money in the first place, but often it's the rich just getting rich through investment rather than hard labor..
Syndicalism is an interesting alternative. But the role of the investor seems critical - a certain rate of return seems needed to make the investment worthwhile. Also, taking nothing away from people that start and running their own business. But wage slavery / exploitation doesn't seem right, to me, so a fair wage should be paid. Otherwise we're dealing with sweat-shops and the like.
1 person likes this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
11 Nov 07
That's because you are still thinking of wealth as money. Yes, workers make widgets and provide services. Employers pay workers for their services. But where the employers and employees meet is not where wealth is created. Wealth is created when people take those goods and services and make more opportunities from them.
A person can have a whole houseful of goods, but never once create wealth. A person can work for a decent wage, without ever producing wealth. A person can have millions of dollars, but if those dollars, goods or wages aren't used to create opportunities, wealth is never created.
Wealth isn't money, Wealth is Opportunity.
@bravenewworld (746)
• United States
11 Nov 07
You're probably right. Equal opportunity, not equal outcome; that seems to be the ideal situation. I still think, though, that it's easier to create wealth when you have money. It's hard creating wealth when you're just trying to make ends meet. But as others have said, you can have money and squander it, and you can have very little and build an empire.
@bravenewworld (746)
• United States
11 Nov 07
Whether that empire is for the overall good of society is not assured. But at least it creates jobs and opportunities for others.
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
11 Nov 07
The fact is that you will never be rich working for someone else.
All of these people with their constant whining about needing to raise the minimum wage just don't get it.
The only way that they will ever see any sort of really decent money is by starting and building their own business.
Anything else is just labor, and is dictated by what the market will bear.
It doesn't matter how high the minimum wage gets, because once it reaches the level where business can no longer afford to pay these outrageous wages for entry level work, then the business will close and the workers will find themselves on the street.
All of those rich people that everyone loves to hate.... they didn't get that way working for others.
Either they, or one of their ancestors created that wealth by building their own business and being the boss.
That is the only way it works.
1 person likes this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
11 Nov 07
I disagree with the premise that you'll never be rich working for someone else. Film stars, Musicians, Talk Show Hosts, Atheletes, all of these work for someone else. Executives don't wake up one morning CEOs, they climb the latter, usually becoming "rich" long before they get the big chair at the table.
But all of this is beside the point, money isn't wealth... neither is work. If Bill Gates took the money made from selling copies of MSDOS and stacked it in neat rows on shelves in his garage, he would be rich, but he wouldn't create much wealth. The true wealth that was realized because of MSDOS was through the opportunity it created for him and for others.
@smartbrain69 (2790)
• Canada
11 Nov 07
For me money is not wealth, wealth is education you have got and the skills you know. with that knowledge you can make money very fast.
Knowledge is gathered in many years and money is lost in seconds.
Knowledge is your personality.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
12 Nov 07
Yes, education and skills are also tools used to create wealth. Just like with money though, the tools are useless if they aren't used.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
11 Nov 07
I do agree that those who create opportunities make the society prosperous.
However, I guess the definition of wealth is a rather subjective one.
For your information, it is not true that employees who work for their wages do not create opportunities. Take an example, you say they buy consumer goods right?
May I ask who create these consumer goods, bring them to the shops and sell them? By buying things, they are creating opportunities for so many people - jobs, businesses, livelihoods are created for the retailing, manufacturing, transportation, etc lines. =)
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
12 Nov 07
Yes, workers make and move goods that other people buy, in that they are invaluable for the creation of wealth. However, doing their job does not create wealth (opportunity). Opportunity is created when people go beyond that, creating something new from what already exists.
Yes, there are workers who do that, but not by just doing their job and cashing a paycheck.
1 person likes this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
12 Nov 07
I'm not isolating anything. I'm simply saying that just because you do a job, doesn't mean you create opportunity.
That does not mean I don't respect workers.
@lordwarwizard (35747)
• Singapore
12 Nov 07
Everything is inter-connected... it is quite impossible to truly isolate anything.
@jeanniemay (1798)
• Philippines
14 Nov 07
Yes, money isn't everything, the opportunity to create more and more for others is.
I also agree that the ability to make others wealthy is one good measure of wealth.
Thank you for the good thought. More opportunity cheers for all!
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
14 Nov 07
Exactly! The richest people in the world couldn't have made it there without creating opportunity for others.
@gorgeousdreamer (1034)
• Philippines
11 Nov 07
yes, it's true. As the saying goes... YOu are the wealthiest person in the world if you have family and friends who loves you. Money isn't about everything although you need it to buy foods, and other stuffs but sometimes because of money, crimes arise. There were robbers and sometimes they kill people just to get money.
@men82in (1268)
• India
11 Nov 07
Apart from money as a wealth the capacity to utilise the opportunities is the real wealth and the gutz and ability to face the yoc's and discussions regarding offers'is the real wealth i can say. Lots of talented people cannot able to face the offers also in one side due to stisfied and compulsions of their families. Once again everybody must o use the talent as wealth and use in several ways to overcome the poverty and to donate to the society and charities mainly instead of familys' wealth.
@wisedragon (2325)
• Philippines
11 Nov 07
Yeah too many people think a fat paycheck makes them rich. It doesn't. It's what you do with that money that determines your financial destiny. You either squander it or invest it. You squander it then you're on the road to becoming poor. You invest it and you're on the road to wealth.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
11 Nov 07
Exactly! How many of the rich and famous of the 80s were broke in the 90s. On the other hand, look at the Fortune 500 sometime and notice how many of the world's richest people weren't rich just 2 or 3 decades ago.
@bong_domingo (878)
• Philippines
12 Nov 07
Amen to that.... i guess that's a common misconception for some who simply live to work and work to live.... or perhaps for those who thought money is wealth and wealth is just money... I like the way you put it that wealth is opportunity... opportunity to further better the society, alleviate human conditions, or simply be a helping hand.... money ain't everything, but we can use it to create opportunities not just for ourselves, opportunities to better ourselves, human as we are....
