While reading Edward Gibbons’ The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire recently, I found two passages that might be taken as person finance advice.
First:
Under the Roman empire, the labor of an industrious and ingenious people was variously, but incessantly, employed in the service of the rich. In their dress, their table, their houses, and their furniture, the favorites of fortune united every refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of splendor, whatever could soothe their pride or gratify their sensuality. Such refinements, under the odious name of luxury, have been severely arraigned by the moralists of every age; and it might perhaps be more conducive to the virtue, as well as happiness, of mankind, if all possessed the necessaries, and none the superfluities, of life. But in the present imperfect condition of society, luxury, though it may proceed from vice or folly, seems to be the only means that can correct the unequal distribution of property. The diligent mechanic, and the skilful artist, who have obtained no share in the division of the earth, receive a voluntary tax from the possessors of land; and the latter are prompted, by a sense of interest, to improve those estates, with whose produce they may purchase additional pleasures
Let’s break it down.
- First, the topic sentence — basically: Many people are employed by the rich.
- The “favorites of fortune”, the people we would call “the 1%” today, want every sort of luxury.
- These luxuries may be criticized by some … and perhaps our society would be better if everyone had life’s necessities and none had more than that.
- But in the real world, this very thing, luxury (even if it’s bad or silly), is the one thing that can make the distribution of wealth more equal.
- Hard-working “mechanics” (anyone who uses machinery and tools in their work) and talented artists, people with skills, who weren’t born into wealth, get paid by those who are wealthy, inspiring those wealthy people to work harder so they will make more money so they can buy more stuff.
What does this mean?
If you don’t have wealth, if you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth, … the best way to get money is by using your skills to produce something that people will buy. If you haven’t got skills, then develop yourself and get some!
This is nothing new. It’s true today. It was true when Edward Gibbon wrote Decline and Fall more than 200 years ago. It was true in the time of the Roman Empire, more than 2,000 years ago. And if The Richest Man in Babylon is to be believed, it was true well before that.
More later.
