Let Us Widen the Gap between Rich and Poor
The Art of War is a paean to progress. It extols the
idea that, no matter what our current position, we can improve it continuously
if we act strategically. Some object to progress because it widens the
gap
between rich and poor. But according to Sun Tzu's philosophy, the wider the gap between
rich and poor, the better! The only way to eliminate that gap is to eliminate
progress. That gap measures progress.
Some among us will always choose to do the
absolute minimum to get by. (I am talking about the choices people make, not
the conditions they are born into.) They will always be poor. They are the
metric against which real progress can be measured. In a free economy, those
who produce a great deal of value are rewarded voluntarily by others. The
greater the contribution they make, the greater the distance between them and
those who produce a minimum contribution. Since a society as a whole is only
as rich as the combined contribution of all its members, we want people
producing more value. Since in a free society, we cannot force those who
choose to produce the minimum necessary to survive to produce more, only a
widening gap between rich and poor measures our increasing wealth. That wealth
benefits all, even those who produce a minimum. The poor in America live a
life of luxury unimaginable though all of history and most of the world.