As we have seen in the previous two posts a big issue with wealth is knowing what it is and is not.
Truly it is an abundance of material things that are useful.
No one owning 100,000 8-track tapes would claim they are wealthy as this type of possession is obsolete and useless. This is False Wealth.
Governments by this definition can't be a source of wealth.
Why?
They do not produce goods that are useful. You may argue with me and say, they build hospitals and roads and other infrastructure. True, but the source of their funding is not from profits or wages but taxing us.
What governments are really good at is redistributing wealth (after they take their cut of course) to whatever cause or people they deem beneficial. By these redistributions, market distortions are created and then the Law of Unintended Consequences kicks in. The problem is, governments are not all knowing and all powerful and they send money to places it would not go on its own.
They are also very good at creating expectations on the part of citizens. This is why, in democracies we seem vulnerable to this phrase "what is the government going to do to fix this?".
When citizens think like this, then there are real problems because it reflects a faulty world view and the politicians act accordingly.
The best course of action, in my view, is for governments to get out of the way and let the market work lest they create some horrible unintended consequences further burdening their citizens.
Truly it is an abundance of material things that are useful.
No one owning 100,000 8-track tapes would claim they are wealthy as this type of possession is obsolete and useless. This is False Wealth.
Governments by this definition can't be a source of wealth.
Why?
They do not produce goods that are useful. You may argue with me and say, they build hospitals and roads and other infrastructure. True, but the source of their funding is not from profits or wages but taxing us.
What governments are really good at is redistributing wealth (after they take their cut of course) to whatever cause or people they deem beneficial. By these redistributions, market distortions are created and then the Law of Unintended Consequences kicks in. The problem is, governments are not all knowing and all powerful and they send money to places it would not go on its own.
They are also very good at creating expectations on the part of citizens. This is why, in democracies we seem vulnerable to this phrase "what is the government going to do to fix this?".
When citizens think like this, then there are real problems because it reflects a faulty world view and the politicians act accordingly.
The best course of action, in my view, is for governments to get out of the way and let the market work lest they create some horrible unintended consequences further burdening their citizens.
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