Wealth is created by labor. By manual labor (taking the shit around us and turning it into more useful shit) or by intellectual labor (seeing new ways to use shit or new shit to make). Capitalism is not a system of wealth creation but of wealth ownership. It is not the most efficient creator of wealth, merely the most effective privatizer of wealth.
In our present system, the owners of wealth and the creators of wealth are separate entities. Certainly there are innovative, creative owners who make substantial contributions to wealth creation but they are a minority. By and large, you simply have wealth owning the means of production of wealth and in no way contributing to its creation.
Wealth does not create wealth, labor creates wealth. Labor is wealth. Private ownership actually hinders wealth creation. Just look around. Labor is disincentivised. People are less productive than they can be because they don't give a fuck. They have no reason to give a fuck. Owners of wealth are destroying wealth by wasting labor.
Capitalism's goal is not maximum wealth creation. It's goal is merely maximum wealth creation for the owner.
|