Isn’t hoarded wealth a no-op? It just reduces the supply of whatever they are hoarding.

Would the people benefit from redistributing the things they are hoarding? Corporate stock that pays little to no dividends, mainly? It’s not like they are hoarding wheat. I don’t really get what people think will happen if we redistribute the stored wealth.

All wealth is, is a claim to direct labor and materials, the magnitude of which is relative to the total amount of wealth competing to direct those at present. If some portion of the wealth is locked away, the labor and materials are still being deployed, just the total pool of wealth competing to direct them is smaller than it would be otherwise. Unlocking wealth does not actually bring more stuff into existence.

Now, it could redirect labor and materials used to built yachts or luxury homes into more practical goods. But my impression is that the labor and materials used for those things are minuscule compared to the overall economy, and most of the wealth of the very wealthy is not actually used for those sorts of things.

▲

enraged_camel 10 hours ago | parent [-]

>> Isn’t hoarded wealth a no-op? It just reduces the supply of whatever they are hoarding.

It’s not. Wealth creates political power, which the wealthy wield to stack the odds in their own favor at the expense of everyone else.

	▲	pfannkuchen 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Is that the topic of discussion? I thought it was something along the lines of “tax the rich so we can do things with the money”. That is the area I’m saying it is a no-op in. Statements without context frequently don’t mean the same as what they mean with context.