[Manuel_D]

> Rich people's wealth growing at a far higher rate. Which means the middle class wealth is getting siphoned to the rich.

No, that logic doesn't follow. Say my wealth grew by 3% and my neighbor's grew by 5%. That doesn't imply any sort of "siphoning" at play.

[JackSlateur]

Which is exactly the same as "my wealth was constant and my neighbor's grew"

Which is exactly the same as "my neighbor's the same and my wealth decreased"

Which is exactly the same as "getting siphoned to the rich"

Money have no intrinsic value: its only value is relative the others (and also depends on what can be bought ..)

[Manuel_D]

> Which is exactly the same as "my wealth was constant and my neighbor's grew"

> Which is exactly the same as "my neighbor's the same and my wealth decreased

No, not even remotely true. This is a fixed sum view of wealth that assumes the only way to obtain wealth is to take it from someone else.

Say I have a 3,000 sq ft house on a quarter acre lot, and so does my neighbor. My neighbor's company has a successful IPO and he sells his equity to buy a 6,000 sq ft house on a half acre lot, then how has my wealth decreased?

[JackSlateur]

If you have no raise and your neighbor have a raise, then you are poorer

It may be easier to understand globally: if you have no raise but everybody have a raise, then you are poorer (because everything cost more, but you have no raise)

[Manuel_D]

> If you have no raise and your neighbor have a raise, then you are poorer

This is just factually wrong. If my neighbor gets a raise and I don't, and stuff costs the same amount then I have not gotten poorer. If my neighbor doubled his income tomorrow, how would I be any poorer? In theory, you could argue that his higher income results in inflation, but that's only the case if total productivity doesn't match the increase in the money supply.

Wealth is not zero sum: inflation adjusted wealth has increased over time: more houses and cars get built, more advanced industries increase productivity, etc. Wealth is not a fixed pie, the total amount of wealth in the world increases.

[JackSlateur]

When minimal wage increases, everything costs more ..

Wealth has no intrinsic value, it is only relative to other and to what can be exchanged with money

The numbers may always go up but the things that can be exchanged does not. Hence the "you become poorer"

[Manuel_D]

> The numbers may always go up but the things that can be exchanged does not.

No, the things that can be exchanged for money does go up. More houses get built, more cars are manufactured, etc. The total value of goods in the economy increases.

The economy is not zero sum.

[N_Lens]

It's not just about logic, it's about data. The middle class is becoming impoverished and increasingly more precarious while the wealthiest are capturing ever larger gains.

Capitalism concentrates capital in fewer hands.