Hello khalling,
Something has occurred to me that may be of some interest along these lines. One thing I do not hear much about in terms of economic wealth is the problem with turnover of the dollar. The number of times a dollar is exchanged, or changes hands in the private sector before it is confiscated by the government through taxation is a factor too often overlooked. In other words the excessive taxation removes the dollars from circulation, thereby reducing potential wealth creation. Do you agree?
Regards,
O.A.

Indeed!

as wdonway says, "we have the world to win."

Good job! Keep doing what he's doing. I believe he made it most understandable in a way the layman will comprehend. I look forward to an expanded exploration.

He was trying to make the topic more conversational. He is considering a nonfiction book on the subject, that would have wider appeal. any suggestions would be appreciated.

Excellent article. Thank the author please.
Regards,
O.A.

I thought it was government spending money it doesn't have. :P

Good questions. Thanks for making me think. I'm always puzzled by the media focus on GDP not measuring up to predictions, and attempts to fix it and our "sluggish" economy.

I define wealth as a measure of a person's ability to create more wealth, or more of what he or she values. This is similar to the Farmer or Fisherman analogy, but broader in the sense that I'd count the Average American just as wealthy. All three men have the ability to obtain more of their chosen currency (cows, fish, or modern conveniences) in ---and here is a key point--- in their current economic environment. The Avg American's flatscreen TV's would be useless if he were dropped in the middle of the Alaskan tundra, just as the Farmer would be very poor if he and his cows were confined to a massive city like Manhattan.

Yes, in either situation the man could of course start from scratch and use his intelligence to build a new life and accumulate wealth his new economic environment, but I do not count intelligence alone as wealth, only a means to obtain it. Properly maintained cows provide food and more cows, fishing knowledge and a rod provide more fish, and electronics can be sold to buy more electronics. And in the US all of these men can effectively trade with each other for the goods they don't have. Even straight up cash can be used to create more cash, through investment or interest rates.

So perhaps the measure of a society's economic prosperity would be how many different types of wealth a man may trade his own wealth for. If there comes a time when no one in the U.S. owns no cows that's fine, as long as we produce something else instead. Maybe by then we'll have expanded to SPACE AMERICA!!! Which is at least 10 years out, so don't sell all your cows just yet.

A rational man wants economic growth so that one day instead of selling fish for bread he can sell fish for a new iPhone. He benefits along with everyone else.

To answer your question khalling, is wealth good? I don't see why not.

I'm in Madison, WI. I'm saying it strictly anecdotally. Our hackerspace opened a few years ago. Our high-school robotic team did an amazing presentation to my professional society about the their programs. They have a nice lab facility, > 2000 sq ft easily. We now have TWO co-working places, which we didn't have five years ago. There's no end of "happy hour" events that actually have high-tech entrepreneurs networking, not just realtors and brokers trying to sell to techies. The VC scene is nothing like the Coasts, but there is money to be had for speculative ideas with a strong business plan and a management team that can explain it in an old-school fashion. We have shops and branches where companies on the Coasts "insource" to the middle of the country where costs are lower. I have been slow in Q3, and new inquiries have stayed low. For years before that inquiries came about once a week and design wins were high. It just feels like things are really rocking, although 2013 Q3 was hard, partly b/c of things I did, not the economy.
My wife's legal practice has been growing on a nice straight light. She hired another person this summer, and the line's slope appears to have increased, although we never judge growth based on a few months.

cg, I'm not sure where you are in the upper MW, but I'll bet I can show you that high tech startups are lower than 2000.

I don't understand what the author/reviewer is trying to say. It feels, in my corner of the world, that entrepreneurship is rising and wealth is rising. It goes without saying that people have more wants even after their basic needs are met.

It sounds like it starts saying we need more wealth and then says it's hard to measure wealth.

I probably misunderstood the article.

I only think there's growth and entrepreneurship in my corner of the world, high-tech in the Upper Midwest.

The article talks about _median_ wealth, not mean. I thought our mean wealth was increasing but not our median wealth. I'm not sure on that fact; just something I've heard.

Excellent article. Very thought provoking. Wealth may have a different meaning to everyone. I think stiving for wealth is good. It keeps us motivated to improve our own lives and in so doing we improve the lives of others. I'll be contemplating this for a while. Thanks for posting!

it does say a rational person would continue to want economic growth. If you think economic growth and entrepreneurship are growing, I would strongly disagree. Please see the Kaufman Institute's studies on point.
Overall US mean Wealth has declined.
http://www.middleclasspoliticaleconomist...