On Nov 15, 2010, at 5:05 PM, [email protected] wrote: > I'm aware this posting is vulnerable to a bunch of counter-observations; I > mean only to convey that until we have an idea of where a rich > person's money can go, best be slow to say, "No one can continue to spend $1 > million on > themselves all the time."
If you had $1 billion, and you spent $1 million "on yourself" (however you describe that) a year, it would take you one millenium to spend your billion dollars. All of the things you mentioned that someone can spend money on provide a livelihood for other people. The rich person's purchases consist far more of large capital expenditures (houses, cars, boats, etc.) than of non-capital purchases (a Picasso or Matisse). The rest of the rich person's money is stored in some kind of deposit, either as financial instruments or as investments. Those funds generate loans and jobs, etc. Ultimately, my point was that wealthy people have more *options* than people with less wealth. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady
