| I’d say there are many examples of higher salaries being zero sum or negative sum. I’ve noticed from people I’ve visited in the US with large salaries that there’s many who buy homes with swimming pools they don’t necessarily use much. It’s kind of something you just have to have, especially if you plan to sell the home one day. The European model might involve smaller homes, higher taxes, and thus lower salary. But the taxes will often go to public infrastructure, and since housing is denser, that infrastructure is potentially in walking/biking distance. So you get public pools with more amenities (even a big slide if you’re lucky) for less money. I was struck by a side comment in Linus from Linus Tech Tips that he felt his family needed to spend some of the summer at home to justify the huge investment in the swimming pool in their new home. Seems kinda crazy to me. The mega yachts that seem popular with the ultra wealthy also seem to me like such a huge waste. So many people employed building those big money sinks who could have been building infrastructure. In the case where the gains on capital or large salaries is used as new capital for new ventures, I agree it’s not zero sum. But if that’s what we want more of, there can be ways to encourage that money is managed that way more often. Doesn’t feel like there’s enough effort on those kinds of policies. |