Don't bash the rich, they give us cheap TVs!

Some people mistakenly think markets primarily benefit the rich, but in fact markets use the rich to benefit the poor.

As I sit here I am facing my lightweight 20" hi-definition flat screen TV. Who paid for this TV? A naive answer would be that I did. After all, I plunked down the $160 or so dollars for it.

But how did such a thing come into existence? Television itself is something of a miracle. Nobody, no matter how rich, had one before the 20th century. And in the 1950s a very heavy black and white low-definition TV cost 4-6 weeks of labour at average wages. That's a big stretch for the middle class, and impossible for the poor.

So how can we afford such vastly better TVs now for only about two days labour instead of 20 or more? Because the rich paid for the development costs of colour TVs, and the development costs of hi-definition technology, and the development costs of flat screen technology. Thanks to them, I only have to pay for the materials and some miscellaneous business expenses.

Should I really hate the rich? Or thank them for buying me a TV?

See also: Hans Rosling and the Magic Washing Machine.

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https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_and_the_magic_washing_machine?language=en