Bernie's $100 Billion Heist (a Daydream)

Bernie, you need to start small—say by knocking over a few gas stations and mom-and-pop grocery stores. Then you can rob a few small banks and go on to some major banks. Only then, should you think of stealing $100 billion at one fell swoop from Bill Gates.

You poor, pathetic would-be little gangster. You don’t even realize that the wealth of the rich is in the form of capital, that is, means of production, and as such is the foundation of the supply of products and the demand for labor.

In your ignorance, you think the wealth of the rich is practically all in the form of consumers’ goods, just like that of the average person, i.e., in such things as their houses, cars, food, and clothing, but in much larger quantity, along with paintings, jewelry and much cash.

The truth is that in a capitalist country, such as the US, the great bulk of the wealth of the rich is in the form of factories and machinery, farms and mines, stores and warehouses, trains and planes, and pipelines, trucks, and freighters. Also, it is the source of most wages.

As such, it is what makes it possible for practically everyone in the US to have a house or apartment, a car, indoor plumbing, a flush toilet, electricity, a color TV, a computer, a telephone and a cell phone, a refrigerator/freezer, and much, much more.

Because of your ignorance, you don’t know that when you loot capitalists, you’re destroying the foundations of everyone’s standard of living—the source of the supply of goods available for them to buy and of the demand for the labor they sell.

So, if you ever get to loot $100 billion from Gates or anyone else, you won’t solve the problems of homelessness and unsafe drinking water, or any other problem. You’ll be creating or intensifying problems of poverty.

That’s because you’ll be increasing the demand for consumers’ goods at the expense of decreasing the demand for capital goods and labor. In response to this change in demand, temporarily more consumers’ goods will be produced at the expense of less capital goods being produced.

The reduction in the supply of capital goods will result in a reduction in the supply of consumers’ goods and also in a further reduction in the supply of capital goods, since with fewer capital goods, the ability to produce capital goods is also cut.

In addition, the government and its clients will be consuming at the expense of wage earners, for the taxes on capital will have reduced wage payments.

You’ve repeatedly whined that the economic system should work for all of us, not just the rich. It does work for all of us. Thanks to the wealth of the rich, practically everyone in the US has all the goods I described several tweets back, plus much, much more.

Because of its great success in raising the general standard of living, capitalism is denounced not only for its alleged hunger and poverty but also, however contradictory, for its alleged excess of consumption, e.g., the alleged problem of the volume of wrappings in which our abundance of goods comes.

Capitalism and its freedom for everyone to become as rich as he can, is hated because the greater success of some is irrationally taken by many as the measure of their failure, despite the fact that its actual result is the enrichment of all.