Cliff, you make a very flawed assumption regarding the ability of the economy to expand forever. There is no limit to how much our economy “can expand”. But there are limits to how much of our economy can be based around a specific resource say iron, labor, or land. But GDP involves both products and services. So if say the price of a new computer is to much for me to spend, I might spend my money on something else including say high quality coffee. If I have money left over, rather than buying high quality coffee, I might pay someone to make if for me. If I still have money left over, maybe I will subscribe to Netflix which consumers virtually no limited resources and represents one of the planets “unlimited” resources… content.
Unlike your presumption that the pie is fixed, the pie is dynamic… during times of economic growth the pie expands and during times of recession the pie contracts. Also you confuse money with resources… For example, say there is a very exclusive home on the ocean that sells for $20 million dollars. Then 20 years later, I very wealthy individual buys that house for say $50 million dollars…has the second individual own two and half times more resources or the same resource that is now worth two and half times more.
Contrast that with the baker. I love fresh made baguettes, that a local couple bake for $4 each. I am wealthier than most people, but no matter how wealthy I am, even if I were fifty times more wealthy than I am today, I would still buy only one baguette a day… the baker will have to find someone else to the buy the rest.
The point is the increasing wealth of the wealthy from a consumption perspective does not expand very much relative to their wealth when it comes to consuming resources… they may buy more rare and expensive resources but they largely compete for those against one another…
I couldn’t buy that $20 million dollar house if it were $4 million dollars and the person competing to buy that house when it is worth $50 million dollars is not likely to compete with me over my house.
When you are killed you don’t get any pie regardless of your skin color and in the US if you are say African American, then the chances of you getting killed as an adult is 83% that it is someone of the same race as you. As an unborn child almost 100% that it is someone of the same race as you. As a percent of total deaths by race, the chance of being killed by say a police officer is so small relative to all the other reasons you might die as to make it seem silly relative to your comment… wrongful death is bad and tragic but not a reason to use to argue that everyone does not benefit from an improving economy…
