[extropy-chat] Tax Burden Gap

[Acy James Stapp]

J. Andrew Rogers writes:

> Matthew Gingell writes:
> > I would define any person who can command vast quantities of
capital, 
> > whether from a few wealthy sources or millions of middle-class
folks, 
> > as "wealthy".  

> This definition does not match what is is normally meant by "wealthy"
> in a market economy. A bank loan officer might control millions of
> dollars of capital but he isn't necessarily a wealthy person, any
> more than the navigator of a hundred million dollar cruise ship is
> necessarily a wealthy person.

> Think of venture capital and mutual fund managers, arbitrage brokers,
> currency traders, executives of corporations or pension funds, and so
> on. They all control big pools of other peoples money and they all
> try to make the pool bigger by finding interesting things to do with
> it, and none of them are necessarily super-rich people.

The difference between your definitions is the volitional agent.
If it's your volition commanding or controlling the capital, you are
wealthy. If it's someone else's, they are, whether or not you are
actively
managing that capital. So in that sense, wealth is the means of
controlling
capital via one's own volition, whether directly or indirectly.

Acy