Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “wealth” as abundance of valuable
material possessions or resources and abundant supply, while it defines riches
as things that make a person rich. It also goes further to define rich as having
abundant possessions and material wealth. It appears that both being wealthy
and being rich are similar in relation to humans, but a close observation will
show that wealthy is not only a valuable possession, but it has abundant
supply. This means that when you are involved in an activity that generates a
lot of money, you are considered rich, but when you create a system of activity
for others to generate money, then you are considered wealthy.
A wealthy man create riches or income for others and his systems keeps
supplying with abundance, while a rich man makes himself rich and could be
making others poor. The same dictionary defines poor or poverty as lack of
supply or possession. A wealthy man with an idea creates a product or service
that is needed by the society and with time, he allows others to get involved to
promote that service or product. No one is hurt and everyone involved is
blessed from the idea that serves their fellowman. A rich man almost creates
nothing. He is actually a parasite that thinks he is smart. He has no intention or
lacks the ability to help others. His main interest is possession of money by
skimming the system others have created. When a society is filled with wealthy
people, there is a narrow gap between the have and have not, but when it is
filled with rich people, the rich will get richer in the name of inflation that
eventually leads to a breakdown of society.
A wealthy man perceives a car, creates a factory to produce the car, and employ
others to work in it. Soon, the society has what they need (affordable cars), his
employees are getting paid, and he is at home sleeping in peace knowing very
well that he has changed the life of others. Another worries about a societal
problem or thinks of an environmental good, and decides to create or publish a
book about it. He gets the printers, distributors, libraries, and bookstores
involved. Those who like the content get to tell their friends and if he is lucky,
generations will keep buying the book. It could be a painting, a hospital, a
restaurant, or even a CD. Wealthy people create to satisfy a need at no expense
to another. It might take time, but they always enhance their community or
nation.
A rich man goes and buys a cheap car from the junk yard for $1,000, fixes it up
for another $1,000, and ships it to Nigeria for another $1,000. He then goes to
Nigeria to sell a car that an American car dealer will buy for $50 at $10,000 and
then come back to the USA to brag about how he made a profit of $7,000 for
nothing. Yes, he has $7,000 cash but he is putting trash into his own economy
at an inflated rate. The wealthy man and his country that made the car are still
the champions. They already made their profit when the materialized idea was
sold. When the idea became trash and was worthless, the crafty rich man came
to buy it as if it had any value. The crafty rich man did not only clean up their
mess from pollution problems, but also compensated them for an idea that was
already dead. He then takes the valueless substance (dead idea/car) to his
country and the idea finally dies or breaks down on the road within a year or
two. The rich $7,000 man does not only put inflation in his economy, he also
puts pollution there (exhaust waste and the car itself), but most importantly,
expands the poverty of his people. This is because when you pay $10,000 for a
car that its maker now values at $50, you are poor. You are not poor because
you increased your lack by paying too much, but because there is lack of supply
that is why you need to pay too much. A country that needs cars must have
good supply of it by producing it or having a system in place where its citizen
will not be cheated and have great return on their investment.
A rich man takes his country’s resources and hides it in the Swiss bank. He is
very rich because “his money” is generating interest in his name and can never
be recovered by his country or other people. The wealthy men in Swiss bank
take the rich man’s money, invest the money in the Swiss country and on the
Swiss people, and give the rich man maybe 5% (being generous) at the expense
of his people. Do not forget that the rich man losses it all if he dies leaving the
money with the Swiss. The rich do not want adequate electricity, so that the
poor can struggle to buy the generators that he imports from the wealthy. He
stores his country’s oil in foreign reservoir at some interest rate to cause
scarcity in his land, then turns around to inflate the price of oil to his people. A
rich man allows his infrastructures to break down, so that his people will have
no hope while he uses hunger as a weapon. He then turns to the wealthy for
foreign aid and expertise, knowing very well that he is going to keep the money
and offer some little contracts here and there. He allows lawlessness so that he
can take when he wants, and no one can fight for those he takes from.
The Europeans have chosen wealth as a way of life. The have learned to invent
and create for the common good, and have a spirit of collaboration amongst
themselves to create a culture of abundance and supply. The Africans have
chosen riches as a way of life, where they take the leftover of the wealthy to
make up for the lack of supply they have intentionally created and use it to feed
the poor at an exaggerated inflation rate. The rich unconsciously creates the
poor for the benefit of the wealthy, but to the wealthy, the rich and the poor
are the same – his employees. If Nigeria or African must make it and be
respected, we must train ourselves to become wealthy and elect leaders that
are wealthy. Wealthy is not tangible money, but materialized ideas that have
being brought about by study, discipline, determination, and productivity. The
money will come later or to his children, but the society which he served will be
richer, more fulfilled, respected, and blessed.


Curled from:

http://www.edofolks.com/html/wealth-riches.htm