Elon is not rich because someone else is poor.

The entire economy is a zero sum game. If I have 100% of the money supply, that necessarily means you have 0%. If we change the amount of people involved in the economy and the distribution, the sum of the proportions of the supply of money will still add up to 100%. So, actually, yes, Elon being as rich as he is necessarily makes others poorer. That is why the top 1% having trilions matters: it’s money that isn’t in other people’s pockets.

I have no interest in wealth distribution. If you want to make more, learn a skill that makes you more available.

This doesn’t necessarily solve poverty. Poverty is measured by a person having a less than certain amount of money within a time period. A single person in the U.S. that made less than $13,590 in a year was officially in poverty. And the weird thing is that 11.4% in 2022 both had a job and lived below the poverty line.

Additionally, I think it was you that mentioned physical therapists are basically required to be a PhD in PT just to do a job that doesn’t even pay all that much!

Personal human capital investment doesn’t necessarily lead to a reduction in poverty.

Taking it from me and giving it to someone else isn’t the way to do it.

Sure! Take it from top 10 U.S. billionaires. We can start and end there. Redistribute their wealth to everyone else, even other billionaires because why not. If you’re correct, it won’t matter: they have skills that make them more available and command a higher rate of remuneration. If you’re wrong, then…we’re down 10 less egotistical billionaires. Win-win.