For people to be prosperous, is it necessary for others to be poor?

Question

Everytime someone makes money, someone else loses money- does that mean that, when some people are very rich, others will necessarily be very poor?

Answer 1

No it is not necessary for others to be poor to be prosperous.
Here's an example:

J K Rowling is a millionaire because of the success of her Harry Potter books. She became a millionaire through many people spending several pounds each time on her books and the films. Some may choose to spend quite a bit of Harry Potter toys too. They do so out of their own free will because they like what J K Rowling has produced. There is no victim there- the worst that can happen is that the buyer doesn't like the book or film that much- they still haven't lost that much money.

If you reverse your question: (For people to be poor is it necessary for others to be prosperous?), you can see that it appears even more obviously that the answer is no. People can sometimes become poor through poor decisions in life- eg business decisions, gambling, buying things that they cannot afford and spending money on non-essential items such as cigarettes.

Furthermore some wealthy individuals generate wealth for people by employing them. The people they employ may also create wealth for the owner but this is nearly always not at the financial expense of the worker themselves.

Answer 2

Absolutely not. You could argue that Donald Trump is a rich mean person...but guess what? He also provided soooo many jobs to so many people. By providing t hose jobs, I'd say he's empowering the people of New York, not making them poor. Would you really argue that the rich people buying his real estate property and paying golf are getting poorer? Same with Bill Gates. Never mind that him and Warren Buffet are spending it all on charity.

OK, how about Sam Walton? He's been getting rich off of the people who are not exactly wealthy...but they still love his idea of low prices so much they can't get enough! The fact that he's rich just simply means that he's doing a much much better job at fulfilling somebody's need!

For people to become prosperous at the expense of others, you'd have to argue that prosperity is scarce. It's not. Anyone can go out and get it without their neighbor caring the slightest bit.

Even dollar bills themselves ain't scarce. Otherwise there wouldn't be such things as runaway inflation that's happened just about every place in the world, at least once. Where the wifes of working fathers wait for paychecks with wheelbarrels...and then wheel the money over to the nearest store to buy anything. So no, money's not scarce either. The government keeps printing more all the time.

Consider also the resources people use to create their personal wealth: time, ideas, iron, coal, dirt, etc.; consider the diverse ways we as a species have used all those resources throughout time. Some might become more scarce than others, but on the whole, from an individual viewpoint, again, no, you can't really say there is a scarcity.

Answer 3

In a society where prosperity is measured by goods, advances in technology can make everyone more prosperous which is why all people in the developed world live much better that ever before in history. However in a pure service economy how well off you are depends on how much of other peoples labor you get to consume vs how much you "sell", so the prosperity of some will be at the expense of others. The US economy is now 80% service.

Answer 4

No, it is not necessary such thing. Some gave the right answer, already - as you are wrong!


Ups, it may happen something else, as the kind you are saying, as well.
This may be when those becoming rich are doing that ~ "over night", by stealing, by taking their (political) influence in their (great) favour, in their businesses' favour, or some relatives or "friend" 's favours - other undercover incomes from properties, funds of others ...

Or it may be about some clerical stuff which put their hands on some neighbour's pieces of land, or use the poor funds for themselves ...

... and many other examples, on the markets of the poor countries, Communist, or in development, ruled by bureaucracy, by political interests despite of any good law (if any), or even in line with many incorrect or contradictory laws ...

Only this last cases, you may be right.

Answer 5

Interesting question.
I don't think so.
When you are fortunate to make money it is not handed to you on a plate.
Money has to be worked for.
My late Father told me to get up early and go out into the road and view what cars were driving at 5.30am
The cars on the roads were mercs, porshes and jags.
So the moneymakers get up early.
They make their luck.
The people who do not have money don't have it for many reasons.
Sometimes it's because they were in the wrong place at the right time.
Being successful and making money rests entirely on hard work.
You see the trappings that the wealth has brought, what you don't see is the work.
So wealth doesn't come at the expense of the poor, it exists because capitalism demands that business works.

Answer 6

Kind of. One way to accquire wealth is to sell a good/service to another. Your margin is determined by things such as what the other person is willing to pay for the good/service and what is costs to make or provide the good/service.

What it costs to make is partially determined by the labor available to make it. If it's an industry that employs unskilled labor somewhere in it's scheme ( and most do) then it's in competition with other companies that employ unskilled laborers. Basically, if a person is going to make more money, they'll pay less to make the product (wages) which will mean their competitors will also have to pay less in wages to provide the same type of product.

I'm not good at explaining my ideas very well, but I hope you get the gist of it.

Answer 7

Wealth is relative. You are wealthy if you have more than some one else.

What hurts the poorer people is that money makes money & if you don't have any to start with it isn't likely that you will ever have much.

The wealth brings power, & those that have power use it to gain more wealth.

The wealth of the world is becoming more & more in the hands of fewer & fewer people. Percentage wise that is.

So where does that leave most people? Out of luck & likely to mean that some will do disruptive things to get what they want.

Answer 8

The short answer to your question is yes. Prosperity and poverty are terms of comparison. That's why poverty in the western world is referred to as "relative poverty" and the third world has "absolute poverty". There is always going to be rich and poor while there is a systems of money and privilege. This will only go when everyone has the same access to all services as everyone else. Personally I can never see this happening as there is always going to be an elite.

Answer 9

No, there are societies, like in the Netherlands with good social welfare where everyone lives at a healthy standard, and the ones who make money are more prosperous.

However, Jesus even said, "the poor you will have with you always". There will always be an element in society that has no desire to rise up and better themselves. Alcoholics, drug abusers, the criminal element... even those who do not know where or how to find help to better themselves, as well as those too lazy to do so.

Answer 10

sometimes - doesn't have to mean that - but some people use and get money by stealing - some people are hooked on power - look at kings and nobility of the past using peasants to gain their wealth - it was more an issue of abuse then anything else.

what is happening now is grotesque wealth and the expense of others - it is a form of mental insanity based on anti social behavior.

our elected officials are presently so out of touch with their constituency they have to do polls to figure who and what the common person is.