In school, they trained us to think of the Economy in terms of mathematical models. But in my own mind, I have an analogy for the economy that I think works really well. My analogy is that economies global, national and local can all be thought of as rivers (or one giant river). They're rivers of economic activity flowing past all of us individuals and companies.
Our job, as far as making a living anyway, is to divert some of that economic activity our way. The more of the activity you can divert your way, whether it be products, services or even just money itself, the more of the flow you can draw off for your own use.
Now, most of us, frankly, are content to sit by the shore or in the flow itself and take whatever activity comes our way and let the river determine our financial fate. Others take actions to divert some of the activity past them and/or their companies. Some people have talents or skills that place them in parts of the river where the flow is very large. Others work very hard and still never get much activity flowing their way. Others find themselves in economies where the flow is just a trickle. There's not much they can do as individuals but survive off the trickle.
There's not much you can say about the merit of what one person earns over what another earns. You can say that some do a much better job than others at diverting the river toward themselves than others. You can also say that some take a certain talent or skill and make the most of what the river passes through that ability. There's no one formula that works, and the scary part is that the river is ever-changing. So what worked in one era and made tons of money won't work at all even a decade later (or even less!). That goes for both companies and individuals (employees). It's a little scary. But it also means that there's no long term sentence that says you can't find a way to divert the flow to yourself in the future, whether you have before or not. Good luck!
Kyle
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