Not a Zero-Sum Game - Ludwig von Mises Institute

NOT A ZERO-SUM GAME
up getting stuck with their second-best option, with the difference
becoming their loss. The actual loss to society is larger because the
tax reduces the size of the pie.13
In a free society, by definition, one cannot make a fortune by impos-
ing one's own will or preferences on others. In fact, when we com-
pete to make others less poor-wealthier-it is their priorities we
must successfully anticipate, not our own.
If we want to make money, we might have to make garments we
wouldn't wear or produce food we wouldn't eat. And we have to tai-
lor quality to other people's budget, not our own.
In this very real sense, we all compete to enrich others. This requires
ceaseless effort, initiative, and inventiveness. We must anticipate
other people's needs, individual tastes, and purchasing power, as well
as consider the other options they might have access to, all of which
are in a constant state of flux. Who makes a fortune and who does
not is determined by what Ludwig von Mises called the "daily
plebiscite of the market." People vote with money, with the dollars
(or yen or euros) that they have purchased with their efforts. When
we act as consumers, we vote for those who enrich us most and,
in turn, we make them wealthier. Should the government veto our
votes? Can a more democratic system exist?
In a free society a person's fortune is precarious. Just as he can-
not take it with him when he dies, he can never take it for granted
while he lives. He cannot be sure of holding on to it. He must win
it over and over every day, by enriching others through exchanges.
13. The discriminatory nature of progressive taxation has other impoverishing and
unintended effects, unrelated to comparative advantage. It taxes incomes at a progres-
sively higher rate, not in proportion to the consumption of the rich, but in proportion to
the likelihood of that income becoming productive capital, increasing productivity and
therefore, bidding up nominal and real wages.