Posted: Mar 14, 2013 9:21 am
Redistribution only helps if people's consumption patterns allow it to help, and/or the redistribution is such that people can't blow it all at the track, as it were, like going from private, buy-it-if-you-want healthcare to state-sponsored insurance. People can and do make (or take, lol) more and then end up spending even more, paycheck-to-paycheck.
As to how the rich got rich, it depends on the rich person. Two people starting with the same income, time, etc can wind up in extremely different places in very short order though, depending on consumption patterns. These effects build over generations. If I recall correctly, it's extremely rare for people to actually experience upward mobility outside of society-wide growth as in postwar Japan, Korea, US, etc. As such, my understanding is that most current wealth is inherited.
As to how the rich got rich, it depends on the rich person. Two people starting with the same income, time, etc can wind up in extremely different places in very short order though, depending on consumption patterns. These effects build over generations. If I recall correctly, it's extremely rare for people to actually experience upward mobility outside of society-wide growth as in postwar Japan, Korea, US, etc. As such, my understanding is that most current wealth is inherited.