Where the new aristocracy lives

Government Thieves and Parasites at the Top of the Income Chain « LewRockwell.com Blog: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/131422.html

It takes a lot to surround the rulers with smart people at their beck and call, and to run their errands. How to make sure you have enough to keep them happy and well fed and loyal? Why, give them goodies! Robin Hood in reverse! Steal from the poor (and even more from those who are aspiring to upward mobility) to pad their own nest, with plenty left over to the loyal minions.

Good term discovered there: the Parasitic Potomac.

But these new rich, are they helping the hinterland? Are they taking inputs of materials, labor, technology, and business methods and producing outputs of more value for the rest of the population. By “value” I mean in terms of demand. What is a consumer or business willing to give in exchange for those outputs? Those outputs can be goods or services, or whatever is offered. The consumer makes an exchange that to him results in more benefit –more “value”. The seller accepts it as a better result than whatever resources he had to give up for the ingredients than went into the production of the outputs to the market.

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