"Taking" Joypoints from someone (and joypoint transfer) is mentioned a lot, but they aren't literally taking someone else's joypoints, correct? Just receiving joypoints for hurting someone.

If they are actually taking away someone's joypoints, then won't no one have any due to the fact that everyone starts with 0? And also when joypoints go out of circulation due to buying things, if there is no grant of new joypoints into the system somehow, all joypoints would eventually run out.