Absolute vs Relative Wealth
From Zanecorpwiki
While the same ideas can and should be applied to global wealth, my main thrust here is the first world in general and the U.S. in particular. Also, my argument is meant to encompass the entire spectrum of the citizenry, but to keep things straightforward, I'm downplaying the complete outliers. I.e., when I talk about the rich, I'm not addressing the issues involved those richest of the rich who's personal wealth is greater than the GDP of the many of the world's nations.[notes 1] Nor am I talking about the desperately poor who eschew even available aid due to severe mental challenges. Addressing these extremes is important, but I think the conversation makes a lot more sense if we focus on those of us that share the normal human experience. I'm including over 99% of the population here.[notes 2]
Relative wealth focuses on the spread of wealth. In relative terms, there is a huge disparity between the richest and poorest Americans. The differences are on such a scale that you can only think of them in terms of magnitude. Simple factor increases just don't convey the scale.[notes 3]
Absolute wealth looks at "how much of what is possible is within an individual's reach". On this front, things look very different. Consider that basic, subsistence food and shelter is available to almost everyone. That's not true for the world at large, and the fact that there are even some nations where this is true for the almost the entire citizenry is a very recent development in human history. Much farther than 2 generations back, and this was certainly not the case--meaning there is still a living memory of a time before you had entire nations which were almost 100% fed. In these kinds of terms, we are very rich indeed.
Notes
- ↑ The poorest of the top 10 wealthiest people in the world had a net worth in 2009 of $18.3 bn. Burkina Faso had a GDP of $17.7 bn in 2008, meaning that the poorest of the top 10 richest people in the earth had more money than each of the world's 58 poorest nations were able to generate in 2008.
- ↑ I had a long note defending the 99% number, but it got distracting. Just take it as a scoping indicator and not a hard claim. The point is when I say things like "almost all" or "almost everyone", I'm acknowledging that there are outliers, but I'm talking about such a large swath that the statements are and should be understand in a practically universal context as far as society at large is concerned.
- ↑ For the mathematically inclined, I'm saying you'd plot this on a log graph.
