So long as an individual’s time preference is limited to the short term, he will never amass any wealth because he will immediately spend any amount of money that is given to him or earned by him.
This is why societies that insist on transferring wealth from those with long-term time preferences to short-term preferences are ultimately doomed.
The eternal complaint against the welfare state is that handouts are wasted on the poor and stupid, and those who are not stupid are not poor for long anyway. Basically, this translates as follows:
If you give money to someone who needs it, he will just waste it on food, rent, or women. If you give money to someone who doesn’t need it, he will make a long-term capital investment that will benefit the entire economy over the long term. Therefore, give money only to those who don’t need it. The whole economy of alms-giving is upside down, from this point of view. We should be taking from the poor and giving to the rich, since by definition the rich are more forward-thinking, more investment-oriented, and more likely to funnel money to capital improvement projects in business and nonprofit sectors.
This ideology is sometimes connected with the words of Jesus from Matthew 13:12 (also at Matthew 25:29 and Luke 19:26):
For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
Usually, however, this quote is associated with having faith or spiritual gifts rather than wealth.
Hello, this is first time to visit this site. It is seems very nice site to me. It might not be a popular idea, but it makes sense.