How does the cost to protect their assets etc. overtake their productivity as they move from the 98.5th to the 99.5th?
If that same productivity were spread out over 3 people, why would those 3 not be more expensive to service than the single person?
One of my clients has a house, whose ballroom is as large as the entire house I live in.
He's never had a real job in his life, but his "productivity" as measured by taxable income is at least 5x mine.
To his credit, he got bored and started a business. It has employees, who receive 95% of their renumeration from various government programs (I helped organise that).
It has permits, because he went to school with decision makers.
There is no universe in which he is a net benefit to society. But I like the guy, and for his social class he's well above the mean.
Nice example. Plus the whole Elon thing. I guess we’d need to support the idea that those who leech off government handouts overwhelm those who produce. I could see that.
Elon is the nearest thing to a counterexample I know.
With his just-the-right-amount-of-foreign charm and his Hollywood parties, he cajoled decision makers to open up a little space for Capitalism in two industries that had been regulatory-captured to the point of death.
And he's bright enough to understand what his staff are telling him, and even listens every once in a while. (Maybe less now than before.)
The exception that proves the rule, but doesn't justify the policies...
