Social justice wonks ignore a huge factor. It is impossible for the wealthy to further their own interest without furthering that of others. They aren’t really into self-sufficiency or disintermediation. They need caterers, cabinet makers, car manufacturers, kung fu instructors, and such. They pay these providers what they are worth, so if the providers shine they are enriched.
I work for rich people in my day job and in my major second vocation.
It is the way of things.
So true. When the rich prosper, they need all sorts of goods and services. Four years ago, I was working every day and making good money. We had a cleaning crew come in regularly and clean our house. Now work is slow, so the cleaning crew comes in every few months now. The lady who runs it is slow as well. I’ve noticed people mowing their yards who used to hire a lawn service, and more neighbors washing their cars. The rich are not bottomless pits. Most I know are frugal and make wise decisions. If they are overtaxed, they will shelter their income, or live on investments, paying the much lower capital gains rate.
...which gets derided as “trickle-down economics”, with lots of nasty analogies applied.
They just don’t realize that so much of what we enjoy DOES depend on others buying more/better than they need. If we cut all those “obscene luxuries” out of society, and work all down to basics, we’ll find most people have nothing to do and nothing to contribute. Factory farming can generate enough calories, and housing can be cheap & simple, produced by remarkably few laborers; beyond that, what would most do? hence why communism results in destroying most means of efficient production, and kills of large swaths of population: with so few idle, production of basics _must_ be made less efficient so more will have something to do, and those who still don’t have anything to do (since anything “luxurious” is banned for all practical purposes) must be terminated.
This vs. capitalism, where there is incentive to create value in the most unlikely places.