Re Why Oxfam is getting it wrong about poverty

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Tracy Hall <tracy.hall () alum mit edu>
> Date: January 16, 2017 at 2:03:37 PM EST
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Why Oxfam is getting it wrong about poverty
>
> In it's first sentence, the article is demeaning, offensive, inaccurate and misleading. What follows is the typical 
> drivel: Make rich people richerer; the poor have only themselves to blame.
>
> > On Jan 16, 2017 10:54 AM, "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> > > Date: January 16, 2017 at 1:04:26 PM EST
> > > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> > > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Why Oxfam is getting it wrong about poverty
> > > Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
> > >
> > > [Note:  This item comes from friend Pete Wilson.  DLH]
> > >
> > > Why Oxfam is getting it wrong about poverty
> > > By Tim Worstall
> > > Jan 16 2017
> > > <https://capx.co/why-oxfams-got-it-wrong-about-poverty/>
> > >
> > > As it’s Davos time, Oxfam has issued its traditional demand for a handout.  Their wealth report this year informs 
> > > us that a mere eight people have more wealth than the bottom 50 per cent of the world’s population. This is 
> > > entirely true of course. But Oxfam’s solution is that we should take it from the rich and give it to the poor. 
> > > Which is entirely wrong.
> > >
> > > Our essential economic problem is that there are not enough rich people. Nor is their extreme wealth a problem. Our 
> > > problem is poverty, not inequality.
> > >
> > > Oxfam’s redistribution argument has been tried before and found wanting. It was the subject of the world’s largest 
> > > economic experiment: the 20th century. Anyone surveying the rubble of central Europe from the Brandenburg Gate in 
> > > 1989 knows that the taking and giving solution does not work. What is needed is the wealth creation strategy that 
> > > we’ve been using in the period of free-market globalisation ever since.
> > >
> > > The result of which is this:
> > >
> > > This depicts the greatest reduction in human poverty in the history of our species. The secret of this 
> > > socio-economic system being that what we consume is value and the system which produces value is the 
> > > capitalist/free market hybrid. Even Karl Marx got that one right.
> > >
> > > Oxfam’s preferred redistribution idea, however, would not work so well. Total equality of income would leave us all 
> > > on US $8,000 a year or so. We Brits wouldn’t even be able to afford the level of government we currently have, let 
> > > alone any food or shelter. Face it, Oxfam, it’s not going to work.
> > >
> > > What we need is for more value to be created in order that more value can be consumed. William Nordhaus has 
> > > explained why it’s capitalism that does it:
> > >
> > > “The present study examines the importance of Schumpeterian profits in the United States economy. Schumpeterian 
> > > profits are defined as those profits that arise when firms are able to appropriate the returns from innovative 
> > > activity. We first show the underlying equations for Schumpeterian profits. We then estimate the value of these 
> > > profits for the non-farm business economy. We conclude that only a minuscule fraction of the social returns from 
> > > technological advances over the 1948-2001 period was captured by producers, indicating that most of the benefits of 
> > > technological change are passed on to consumers rather than captured by producers.”
> > >
> > > The result is that entrepreneurs get to keep some 3 per cent of the value of their creations. The other 97 per cent 
> > > of the value flows to us consumers out here. Value is what we consume; value is what GDP is, what income and wealth 
> > > are. And the vast majority of, near all in fact, the wealth and income created by this capitalist exploitation 
> > > flows to us.
> > >
> > > [snip]
> > >
> > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>
> >
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