Thomas Rogers
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's right...and you only need $1M in capital to be in the top 1% (I'm working on it, I'm working on it).
Read more at:
Read more at:
Interesting considering how many millionaires Wal-Mart and Intel and Microsoft alone have made....
And should it vary from state to state and even within states as widely as the COL does, or should it be nationally fixed?
If you are in your mid to late 20s or early 30s and still working a minimum wage job, that is YOUR fault caused by your choices.
Two percent of adults have more than half of the world's wealth, including property and financial assets, according to a study by the U.N. development research institute published on Tuesday.
Richest 2 pct own more than half the world: study
Tue Dec 5, 2006 8:12 AM ET
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Two percent of adults have more than half of the world's wealth, including property and financial assets, according to a study by the U.N. development research institute published on Tuesday.
While global income is distributed unequally, the spread of wealth is even more skewed, the study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the U.N. University said.
"Wealth is heavily concentrated in North America, Europe and high income Asia-Pacific countries. People in these countries collectively hold almost 90 percent of total world wealth," the survey showed.
The Helsinki-based institute said its study was the first global research on the topic, for which there is only limited data.
"We've estimated that the richest 2 percent of adults own more than half of global wealth, while the bottom half own 1 percent," said institute director Anthony Shorrocks.
He likened the situation to that where, in a group of 10 people, one person has $99, while the remaining nine share $1.
"If you think income has been distributed unequally, wealth has been distributed even more unequally," Shorrocks said.
First of all, this number is flawed because the researchers have failed to include governments as asset-holders. In the United States, for instance, the federal government is the largest landowner ... by a huge margin. Factor in government and you'll find that the world's richest 2% hold far less than one-half of the world's assets.
But let's deal with the Financial Times story, and how it was written. Look at the first sentence:
"Personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world that the richest two per cent of adults own more than 50 per cent of the worlds assets while the poorest half hold 1 per cent of wealth."
What's wrong with that sentence? Come on, read it again and tell me what's wrong. Of course government holdings were left out of the equation .. but what else? Look at the first four words. There .. you got it. Personal wealth is not "distributed." It is earned. Not once in the entire Financial Times story will you see the word "earned." People trade portions of their lives, as in hours worked, and their skills and intelligence for wealth. Those who combine a better work ethic with better skills will manage to acquire more wealth. Those with little to trade will acquire little.
Chris Giles, the Financial Times economics editor in London says that "if all of the world's wealth was distributed evenly, each person would have $20,500 of assets to use." What Chris Giles doesn't tell you is that if this redistribution of wealth was accomplished, those who have little now will take their $20,500 and squander it on booze, cigarettes, gambling and other trivial pursuits, while those who now hold most of the wealth would use their $20,500 stake to invest and rebuild their wealth. Give it a couple of years, and without government interference in the free market most of the wealth would be right back in the hands who hold it now.
Take a look at that $20,500 figure again. Sooner or later it will dawn on you that if we move to redistribute the wealth we will accomplish nothing but making everyone poor.
There are no poor people in this country, unless they choose to be poor.
Even the very poor have cell phones, cable TV, I-pods, Air Jordans, Cadillacs, jewelry, etc.
This country is full of opportunity for those who want to work hard and take it.
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