.
Wealth is the product of work.
I tell people stories and they give me money. With that I buy food, shelter and stuff. My home is full of books, recorded music, some art, a bit of furniture, a few other odds and ends, and I have a car. I own a few stocks and have some money in the bank. That's it. So....
Mental experiment: Let's suppose my home burnt down, stuff's gone, government scoops my stocks and bank account, somebody steals my car. Have I lost my wealth? Nope. I can tell stories and folk give me money: I still have my capability. What I lost was a bunch of stuff
Same thing for our host's example, Carl Icahn, or the Starbucks barrista, or a mechanic. Our wealth is our capabilities.
A home, car or building may or may not represent wealth. If it is paid for and owned, it represents wealth. If the bank owns it, it really represents a liability as it was paid for with the promise of future work.
Since we can make a representation or symbol of stuff, which is therefore metaphysical, it could be a lie, or misattribution - could be product of an ancestor's capability, or luck. The stuff itself is the product of capability found in the person, which is the real wealth.
In a sense, wealth is like light, we can't see it unless it is reflected off of something. Those symbols are the things that wealth reflects off of so we can see them.
I don't think so. We can see folks' wealth by looking at what they do - by looking at their capability. That's what the potlach was all about. A person gave away immense amounts of stuff - practically everything - as a demonstration of their capability, which was their real wealth. (Now I have nothing - watch!)
But those symbols also reflect future work, so until you know that little detail it can't be said whether it is wealth or not.
Wealth is a person's capability. Do they keep a promise? Do they act with honour? When I buy a house with mortgage I get title and lien the house to the bank as security for my promise to pay off the loan. But the bank never wants to own the house - they make the loan based on my real wealth - my capability both to pay and keep the promise.
What I get from this:
There are people with a lot of money and stuff who are not wealthy.
There are people with no money and no stuff who are not wealthy.
There are people with a lot of money and stuff who are wealthy.
There are people with no money and no stuff who are wealthy.
Most of us are in between.
I suspect this woman is wealthy. Stumbled over the vid this AM
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