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"Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept
of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded
the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose,
if he's evaded the choice of what to seek." (Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged)
Wealth is simply an accumulation of products and services that are
both available and wanted for consumption. The only way to create wealth is
to produce more than is consumed, which is made possible through technology.
Technology is an applied science, and science means knowledge. People
increase their productivity by acquiring new knowledge and applying it.
In many ways, our lives are so abundant that this fact is easy to
forget. We take for granted the efficiencies introduced in the market through
innovations such as specialization, the division of labor, and mechanization.
These were all discoveries, ideas in the creative
minds of individual people that were transformed into reality.
In a market economy, everyone gains from the creator's discovery. The
efficiencies gained through technological innovation cascade through the
market so that each person can produce more in less time. As each person
produces more, he or she can consume more, according to the law of supply and
demand.
No matter how sophisticated the products and services become, no matter
how many people get involved in the process, the principles that Crusoe
employed on his island remain immutable. To live, one must evaluate what is required or desired to enhance life, and
produce in order to acquire it. The price one pays is what one must give up in order to
acquire the desired item.
To accumulate wealth, one must save so that time and intermediate
products can be invested in acquiring other goods.
To diversify one's labour requires innovation,
which increases the time efficiency of one's industry.
Resources:
- Methods of a Wall
Street Master by Victor
Sperandeo.
- Mises.org a website devoted to the Austrian School of Economics, a school of
economic thought founded by Carl Menger (Feb 28, 1840 - Feb 26, 1921)
with his work Principles of Economics
published in 1871.
Mike Hewitt
Editor
DollarDaze.org
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