Because capitalists have more money than working people, they can use this
money to hire workers to work for wages. As Adam Smith pointed out, in any
bargain over the price of their labour, workers are in a weaker position than
employers. Their wages are much less than the value they create during the
working week. Since the capitalists can sell the product for more value than
they paid out in wages, the capitalists become richer and richer while workers
stay as poor as ever. This process is the root cause of the difference between
rich and poor.
On top of this there is a secondary form of exploitation that allows
capitalists to increase their wealth: lending money at interest. This process
allows the money-lender to get richer year by year by doing absolutely nothing.
This process has become increasingly important as a form of exploitation
within the developed capitalist countries. The extension of credit in the last
30 years means that the great bulk of the working class and lower middle
classes and are in debt, exploited by the banks and credit card companies. The
neo liberal policies of the last decades have widened the gap between rich and
poor. A large part of societies income is now concentrated in very few hands.
The rich tend to save a large part of their income. In consequence there would
have been insufficient consumer demand to keep the economy going without
the extension of consumer credit. The system needs employees ΡΌ