https://x.com/rationalaussie/status/1751153947606392993 it’s always midwits that think they will get rich quick that post things like this. The reality is living below your means is the way actual rich ppl get and stay rich
Discussion
They don’t read but the millionaire Nextdoor and the richest man in Babylon cover this from a historical and behavioral perspective
The midwits stay poor by trying to look rich
Bitcoin teaches opportunity cost much quicker than gold does as well. That money saved from not going out making your own sandwiches adds up.
Bitcoiners understand this. https://bitcoinorshit.com/
Also related 👀
Apply 1 basis point rule
In reality, the rich generate their wealth by trading what they have to others for what the other has in such a way that for each party the value of their offer to the other is greater than his cost and those who trade with them do so freely and willingly.
In other words, the business of the wealthy is not zero sum by the real value of the exchange but net positive, for both parties are better off after having done business. The total real wealth increases by their trade.
They then stay wealthy by prudently spending their wealth such that the value they receive is greater than the cost of their trade.
The poor get and stay poor by imprudence in trade, spending too much and offering too little. The value of their exchange is net negative. The total real wealth decreases by their trade.
The lesson here is to find something of great value to offer the other and boldly offer it as frequently as possible.
Poor also get poor due to things like being robbed or falling ill.
This is true, but it is the minority of the poor. If all were wealthy, their generosity would cover the poverty of the ill and weak out of charity.
The truly poor can hardly care for themselves, let alone their neighbors, and the wicked will not if they have the means, but the righteous wealthy man will care for many unfortunate neighbors.
We must also take into account that the tyrant creates poverty by stifling those who would create wealth and keeping those who don't from improving themselves. (I mean the welfare state ironically creates poverty by robbing the productive and disincentivizing the unproductive.)
I think charity is vital to ensuring that everyone can live a life befitting the dignity we all would expect, in accordance with our regional living standards, but I am wary of the idea of human sameness.
Jesus told us that the poor would always be among us, so we shouldn't have the expectation that we can cure relative poverty.
Actually, this view of trade necessitates that individuals are different. We all come to the table with varying gifts to trade, be that skills, property, connections, or information. The fact that the potatoe farmer hasn't apples and the orchard keep hasn't potatoes makes the two able to trade, and likewise for the lawyer, the blacksmith, the software engineer, the tailor, the plumber, etc. Human variance makes possible trade and charity.
To make a physics analogy, work (analogous to positive trade) occurs when energy is transfered in an ordered fashion, and entropy is the waste of the energy without doing work. For work to be possible, an energy differential is necessary. For the physical world, there is a source and sink called our sun and empty space, and as rational souls we are able to tap into that energy differential to do work for ourselves and others. The farmer received the energy of the sun to produce edible energy for our bodies. The Christian receives the spiritual food of the Son to power his (and His) charity in the world.