Implicit premise, that I haven’t seen anyone point out:
It is assumed that while charity has a variable utility anywhere between 0 and X, selfish spending has a utility which is less than 0. This may be true in most cases, given that many people waste their money on disposable, consumerist garbage, but when considering somebody who spends frugally, their monetary utility will be in the positive sums (though arguably, less than any given charity).
He never said selfish spending has zero utility or less. He just implied it was less than charity. If you find a really good charity, it tends to be orders of magnitude better than keeping the money. For example, for $25 you could either see a couple of movies, or allow someone else to see the rest of their life. http://www.hollows.org/
There’s nothing wrong with watching a movie. It’s just not nearly as good as being able to see in general.
Also, note that rich people have a tendency to engage in charity anyway; this suggests that once you have enough money to buy whatever you and/or your family might want, you gain more utility by giving it away than you can obtain by buying more stuff. Conversely, if you don’t have enough for things you want or feel you need, the idea of giving it away to other people might be of lower utility.
(This assumes that utility is both relative and personal, of course, as otherwise it is impossible for two persons to profit from trading with each other.)
Implicit premise, that I haven’t seen anyone point out:
It is assumed that while charity has a variable utility anywhere between 0 and X, selfish spending has a utility which is less than 0. This may be true in most cases, given that many people waste their money on disposable, consumerist garbage, but when considering somebody who spends frugally, their monetary utility will be in the positive sums (though arguably, less than any given charity).
He never said selfish spending has zero utility or less. He just implied it was less than charity. If you find a really good charity, it tends to be orders of magnitude better than keeping the money. For example, for $25 you could either see a couple of movies, or allow someone else to see the rest of their life. http://www.hollows.org/
There’s nothing wrong with watching a movie. It’s just not nearly as good as being able to see in general.
Also, note that rich people have a tendency to engage in charity anyway; this suggests that once you have enough money to buy whatever you and/or your family might want, you gain more utility by giving it away than you can obtain by buying more stuff. Conversely, if you don’t have enough for things you want or feel you need, the idea of giving it away to other people might be of lower utility.
(This assumes that utility is both relative and personal, of course, as otherwise it is impossible for two persons to profit from trading with each other.)