“The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer” is a myth
No matter how much you fight it, we are all richer than we were fifty to a hundred years ago. Yet socialists like Bernie Sanders have sold the same propaganda to us — the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer — which is not the reality in today’s world.
This idea of cumulative advantage is expressed in the Bible, now called Matthew’s effect:
“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”
Matthew 25:29 kjv
As much as this may describe what wealth looks like, a thorough observation will declare a loophole in this aphorism. It is common to see rich people get absurdly wealthy. Oxfam claims that the wealth of the world’s billionaires increased by $2.5 billion a day. Yet, saying that the poor are getting poorer is a myth that is not justifiable by the data.
According to Carol Ruth, a former investment banker, as the world increases, the number of billionaires worldwide increases, and extreme poverty shrinks. This is not farfetched as we find our society crowded with various resources helping millions of…
