[kaibee]

> "Consume" labor hours? What does that even mean? Those laborers get paid, and then they spend the money they get. That money is circulating through the economy.

Money isn't stuff. Yes, those craftsmen get paid, but when one of them has something he needs done, some service provided, or some physical resource, he ends up paying more for the labor, because he is competing in the same labor market as everyone else.

Don't you think spending the working time of 4 million labor hours a year, building megayachts, is perhaps not the most productive/ROI generating activity for society at large? You could for example, with ~4 million skilled labor hours a year, build a lot of housing. You could build factories that provide for the needs the people. Hell, you could just give people time-off to, y'know, live and enjoy life (and perhaps, uh, have _children_, which the current system seems to be very efficient at disincentivizing).

[buttercraft]

> he ends up paying more for the labor, because he is competing in the same labor market as everyone else

You'll have to explain that more. Ship builders aren't competing with plumbers.

>Don't you think spending the working time of 4 million labor hours a year, building megayachts, is perhaps not the most productive/ROI generating activity for society at large

Well, that's a drop in the bucket. But you could apply this reasoning to any form of luxury goods. Where do you draw the line? Nice clothes? Fancy watches? Sports cars? Five-star restaurants? Are any of these "the most productive/ROI generating activity for society at large?" Who decides what goods and services are worthy?

> and perhaps, uh, have _children_

You think people are having fewer children because luxury yachts are being built?

[kaibee]

> You'll have to explain that more. Ship builders aren't competing with plumbers.

Sure, on any given year. But the current economic organization of society wasn't born yesterday. On a longer timescale? Absolutely are.

> Well, that's a drop in the bucket. But you could apply this reasoning to any form of luxury goods.

Yes.

> Where do you draw the line? Nice clothes? Fancy watches? Sports cars? Five-star restaurants? Are any of these "the most productive/ROI generating activity for society at large?" Who decides what goods and services are worthy?

The neat thing about market economies is that you don't actually have to draw a line anywhere. You can just reduce income & wealth inequality via taxes and markets will sort it out. If you had taxed capital gains such that Bezos would have had to liquidate 10x - 100x in Amazon stock to buy his yacht, he likely would have settled for a smaller, but still perfectly acceptable yacht, and so on down the wealth ladder.

> You think people are having fewer children because luxury yachts are being built?

Yes I think income/wealth inequality + the amount of labor hours demanded from people to just stay in place is why people are having fewer children.