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It's A "0.6%" World: Who Owns What Of The $223 Trillion In Global Wealth
Back in 2010 we started an annual series looking at the (re)distribution in the wealth of nations and social classes. What we found then (and what the media keeps rediscovering year after year to its great surprise) is that as a result of global central bank policy, the rich got richer, and the poor kept on getting poorer, even though as we predicted the global political powers would, at least superficially, seek to enforce policies that aimed to reverse this wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich (a doomed policy as the world's legislative powers are largely in the lobby pocket of the world's wealthiest who needless to say are less then willing to enact laws that reduce their wealth and leverage). Now that the topic of wealth distribution (or rather concentration) is once again in vogue, below we present the latest such update looking at a global portrait of household wealth. The bottom line: 29 million, or 0.6% of those with any actual assets under their name, own $87.4 trillion, or 39.3% of all global assets.
Here are the key highlights via Credit Suisse:
- Global household wealth in mid-2012 totaled $223 trillion, equivalent to USD 49,000 per adult in the world. This is a decline of $12.3 trillion mostly due to a $10.9 trillion decline in European wealth, however it is double the $113 trillion in total wealth at the start of the millennium
- Losses in Africa, India and the Latin American countries were offset by modest gains in North America (USD 880 billion) and China (USD 560 billion),
- CS expects total household wealth to rise by almost 50% in the next five years from $223 trillion in 2012 to $330 trillion in 2017. What CS does not say is that the bulk of this increase is courtesy of Federal Reserve-facilitated wealth redistribution from the lower and middle classes to the upper class.
- The number of millionaires worldwide is expected to increase by about 18 million, reaching 46 million in 2017.
- China is expected to surpass Japan as the second wealthiest country in the world. However, the USA should remain on top of the wealth league, with $89 trillion by 2017.
Drilling down the distribution of global wealth, in charts:
By the middle of 2011, global wealth had recovered from the 2007 financial crisis; at that time, total wealth matched or exceeded the pre-crisis levels in all regions except Africa.
Global wealth by country: The figure for average global wealth masks the considerable variation across countries and regions (see Figure 3). The richest nations, with wealth per adult over USD 100,000, are found in North America, Western Europe, and among the rich Asia- Pacific and Middle Eastern countries. They are headed by Switzerland, which in 2011 became the first country in which average wealth exceeded USD 500,000. Exchange rate fluctuations have reduced its wealth per adult from USD 540,000 in 2011 to USD 470,000 in 2012; but this still remains considerably higher than the level in Australia (USD 350,000) and Norway (USD 330,000), which retain second and third places despite falls of about 10%. Close behind are a group of nations with average wealth above USD 200,000, many of which have experienced double-digit depreciations against the US dollar, such as France, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and Italy. Countries in the group which have not been adversely affected have moved up the rankings – most notably Japan to fourth place with wealth of USD 270,000 per adult and the USA to seventh place with USD 260,000 per adult.
Interestingly, the ranking by median wealth is slightly different, favoring countries with lower levels of wealth inequality. As was the case last year, Australia (USD 195,000) tops the table by a considerable margin, with Japan, Italy, Belgium, and the UK in the band from USD 110,000 to 140,000, and Singapore and Switzerland with values around USD 90,000. The USA lags far behind with median wealth of just USD 55,000.
Trends in wealth per adult and its components: As Figure 5 shows, average household net worth trended upwards from 2000 until the crisis in 2007, then fell by approximately 10% before recovering in 2011 to slightly above the pre-crisis level. Further setbacks this year have pushed wealth per adult back below the previous peak. However, exchange rate movements account for much of the year-onyear variation. Using constant USD exchange rates yields a smoother time trend and a single significant downturn in 2008, after which point the recovery has continued more or less unabated.
At the start of the millennium, financial assets accounted for well over half of the household portfolio, but the share declined until 2008, at which point the global wealth portfolio was equally split between financial and nonfinancial assets (mostly property). In the period since 2008, the balance has again tipped slightly towards financial assets.
On the liabilities side of the household balance sheet, average debt rose by 80% between 2000 and 2007, and subsequently leveled out. It now amounts to USD 8,600 per adult, about 7% lower than it was the same time a year ago. Expressed as a proportion of household assets, average debt has moved in a narrow range, rising over the period, but never exploding.
The composition of household portfolios varies widely and systematically across countries. The most persistent feature is the rise in the relative importance of both financial assets and liabilities with the level of development. For instance, financial assets account for 43.1% of gross assets in Europe and 67.1% in North America, but just 15.9% of gross assets in India. Household debt as a percentage of gross assets is 16% in Europe and 18.1% in North America, but only 3.7% in India and 8.7% in Africa. There is also variation in portfolios unrelated to the level of development. Some developed countries, like Italy, have unusually low liabilities (10.0% of gross assets), while others have surprisingly high debt, like Denmark (33.7% of gross assets). In addition, the mix of financial assets varies greatly, reflecting national differences in financial structure. The share of equities in total financial assets, for example, ranges from 43.4% in the USA, down to just 20.1% and 6.5% in Germany and Japan respectively.
Changes to household wealth from mid-2011 to mid-2012; The adverse global economic climate and the USD appreciation that occurred during the year until mid-2012 meant that household wealth rose by more than USD 100 billion in only four countries: the USA (USD 1.3 trillion), China (USD 560 billion), Japan (USD 370 billion) and Colombia (USD 100 billion). Figure 6 shows that Eurozone members suffered the largest losses, led by France (USD 2.2 trillion), Italy (USD 2.1 trillion), Germany (USD 1.9 trillion) and Spain (USD 870 billion). These losses were exacerbated by the unfavorable euro-dollar exchange rate movement, but even in euro terms, wealth declined by EUR 50 billion in Germany, EUR 148 billion in France, EUR 177 billion in Spain and EUR 286 billion in Italy. Sizeable USD wealth reductions were also recorded in the UK (USD 720 billion), India (USD 700 billion), Australia (USD 600 billion), Brazil (USD 530 billion), Canada (USD 440 billion) and Switzerland (USD 410 billion).
The largest percentage gains and losses generate a slightly different list. A steady USD exchange rate, combined with an 11% improvement in market capitalization, helped Colombia to top the country rankings with a 16% rise in household wealth. Algeria, Hong Kong, Peru and Uruguay also recorded gains of more than 5%. The downside is more evident, especially in Eurozone countries, where double-digit losses were recorded everywhere (see Figure 7). Other sizeable declines were recorded for Russia (–13%), Mexico (–14%), South Africa (–15%) and India (–18%), while Eastern Europe had a very poor year, led by the Czech Republic and Poland (both with –18%), Hungary (–25%) and Romania (–36%).
* * *
But in a globalized world with virtually unlimited capital flows (for now: see Cyprus) physical borders mean little. Which is why next we look at the global wealth pyramid which breaks down wealth as percentage of the world population: i.e., who owns how much without geographic prejudice. It is here that is becomes most obvious how global policies since the Great Financial Crisis have benefitted the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else.
Presenting the global wealth pyramid:
Here are the stunning facts:
- In 2012, 3.2 billion individuals – more than two-thirds of the global adult population – have wealth below USD 10,000, and a further one billion (23% of the adult population) are placed in the USD 10,000–100,000 range.
- The average wealth holding is modest in the base and middle segments of the pyramid, total wealth amounts to USD 39 trillion, underlining the potential for new consumer trends products and for the development of financial services targeted at this often neglected segment.
- The remaining 373 million adults (8% of the world) have assets exceeding USD 100,000.
- And then the top of the pyramid: 29 million US dollar millionaires, a group which contains less than 1% of the world’s adult population, collectively owns nearly 40% of global household wealth.
- Some 84,500 individuals are worth more than USD 50 million, and 29,000 are worth over USD 100 million.
- The composition of the wealth pyramid in 2012 is broadly similar to that of the previous year, except for the fact that the overall reduction in total wealth increases the percentage of adults in the base level from 67.6% to 69.3% and reduces the relevant population share higher up the pyramid by a corresponding amount. The respective wealth shares are virtually unchanged.
Breaking it down by class.
Lower Class (base level of pyramid):
The various strata of the wealth pyramid have distinctive characteristics. Although members of the base level are spread widely across all regions, representation in India and Africa is disproportionately high, while Europe and North America are correspondingly underrepresented (see Figure 2). The base tier has the most even distribution across regions and countries, but it is also the most heterogeneous, spanning a wide range of family circumstances. In developed countries, only about 30% of the population fall into this category, and for most of these individuals, membership is a transient or life cycle phenomenon associated with youth, old age, or periods of unemployment. In contrast, more than 90% of the adult population in India and Africa are located within this band. In many low-income African countries, the percentage of the population is close to 100%. Thus, for many residents of low-income countries, lifetime membership of the base tier is the norm rather than the exception. However, lower living costs mean that the upper limit of USD 10,000 is often sufficient to assure a reasonable standard of living.
While bottom-of-the-pyramid countries have limited wealth, it often grows at a fast pace. In India, for example, wealth is skewed towards the bottom of the wealth pyramid, yet it has tripled since 2000. Indonesia has also seen dramatic growth, and aggregate wealth in Latin America is now USD 8.7 trillion, compared to USD 3.4 trillion in 2000. In contrast, while North Americans dominate the top of the wealth pyramid, wealth in the USA has grown more modestly, from USD 39.5 trillion in 2000 to USD 62 trillion today.
Middle Class (middle level of pyramid):
The one billion adults located in the USD 10,000–100,000 range are the middle class in the global distribution of wealth. The average wealth holding is close to the global average for all wealth levels, and the total wealth of USD 32 trillion gives this segment considerable economic weight. The regional composition of this tier most closely corresponds to the global pattern, although India and Africa are underrepresented. The comparison of China and India is particularly interesting. India is host to just 3% of the global middle class, and the share has been relatively stagnant in recent years. In contrast, China’s share has been growing fast and now accounts for over one-third of members, ten times higher than India’s.
Upper Class (upper level of pyramid):
High wealth segment of the pyramid The regional composition changes significantly when it comes to the 373 million adults worldwide who make up the “high” segment of the wealth pyramid – those with a net worth above USD 100,000. North America, Europe and the Asia- Pacific region together account for 89% of the global membership of this group, with Europe alone home to 141 million members (38% of the total). This compares with about 2.4 million adult members in India (0.6% of the global total) and a similar number in Africa.
The number of people in a given country with wealth above USD 100,000 depends on three factors: population size, the average wealth level, and wealth inequality within the country concerned. In 2012, only 15 countries have more than 1% of the global membership. The USA leads with 21% of the total. In this instance, the three factors reinforce each other: a large population, combined with high mean wealth and an unequal wealth distribution. Japan is a strong second and is currently the only country that challenges the hegemony of the USA in the top wealth-holder rankings. Although its relative position has declined over the past couple of decades due to the lackluster performance of its equity and housing markets, Japan has 18% of individuals with wealth above USD 100,000, a couple of points more than a year ago.
The most populous EU countries – Italy, the UK, Germany, and France – each contribute 6%–8% to the high wealth segment, and each country has experienced a small decline in its membership share during the year. For many years, these countries have occupied positions three to six in the global rankings, but this year China edged France out of sixth place, a dramatic improvement from the situation in 2000, when China’s representation in the top wealth groups was too small to register. Brazil, Korea and Taiwan are other emerging market economies with at least four million residents with a net worth above USD 100,000. Mexico accounted for more than 1% of the group in 2011, but has dropped below this benchmark this year.
The Ultra-High Class (the very Top of the pyramid):
A different pattern of membership is again evident among the world’s millionaires at the top of the pyramid (see Figure 3). Compared to individuals with wealth above USD 100,000, the proportion of members from the United States almost doubles to 39%, and the shares of most of the other countries move downwards. There are exceptions, however. France moves up to third place in the rankings, and Sweden and Switzerland both join the group of countries with more than 1% of global millionaires. Thank you Federal Reserve.
Welcome to (say goodbye to) the Millionaire's Club:
Changing membership of the “millionaire group”; Changes to wealth levels since mid-2011 have affected the pattern of wealth distribution. The overall decline in average wealth has raised the proportion of adults with wealth below USD 10,000 from 67.6% in mid-2011 to 69.3% in mid-2012 (as the poor get poorer), and reduced the number of millionaires by slightly more than one million (see Table 1). There were 962,000 new millionaires in the United States and 460,000 in Japan, but no significant increase in numbers elsewhere. However, Europe shed almost 1.8 million US dollar millionaires, most notably in Italy (–374,000), France (–322,000),Germany (–290,000), Denmark (–179,000), Sweden (–142,000) and Spain (–87,000). Australia, Canada, Brazil and Taiwan are the other countries in the group of the top ten losers. The losses were sufficient to drop Brazil, Denmark and Taiwan (along with Belgium) from the list of countries with more than 1% of the total number of millionaires worldwide.
High net worth individuals; To estimate the pattern of wealth holdings above USD 1 million requires a high degree of ingenuity because at high wealth levels, the usual sources of wealth data – official statistics and sample surveys – become increasingly incomplete and unreliable. We overcome this deficiency by exploiting wellknown statistical regularities in the upper parts of the wealth distribution to ensure that the top wealth tail is consistent with the annual Forbes tally of global billionaires and similar “rich list” data published elsewhere. This produces plausible estimates of the global pattern of asset holdings in the high net worth (HNW) category from USD 1 million to USD 50 million, and in the ultra high net worth (UHNW) range from USD 50 million upwards. While the base of the wealth pyramid is occupied by people from all countries of the world at various stages of their life cycles, HNW and UHNW individuals are heavily concentrated in particular regions and countries, and tend to share a similar lifestyle, participating in the same global markets for high coupon consumption items, even when they reside on different continents. The wealth portfolios of individuals are also likely to be similar, dominated by financial assets and, in particular, equity holdings in public companies traded in international markets. For these reasons, using official exchange rates to value assets is more appropriate than using local price levels.
There are about 28.5 million HNW individuals with wealth between USD 1 million and USD 50 million in mid-2012, of whom the vast majority (25.6 million) fall in the USD 1–5 million range (see Figure 4). One year ago, Europe overtook North America as the region with the greatest number of HNW individuals, but tradition has been restored this year, with 11.8 million residents (42% of the total) in North America and 9.2 million (32%) in Europe. Asia-Pacific countries excluding China and India have 5.7 million members (20%), and we estimate that there are currently a fraction under one million HNW individuals in China (3.4% of the global total). The remaining 753,000 HNW individuals (2.6% of the total) reside in India, Africa or Latin America.
Ultra high net worth individuals
There is an estimated are 84,500 UHNW individuals in the world, defined here as those with net assets exceeding USD 50 million. Of these, 29,300 are worth at least USD 100 million and 2,700 have assets above USD 500 million. North America dominates the regional rankings, with 40,000 UHNW residents (47%), while Europe has 22,000 individuals (26%), and 12,800 (15%) reside in Asia-Pacific countries, excluding China and India. In terms of individual countries, the USA leads by a huge margin with 37,950 UHNW individuals, equivalent to 45% of the group (see Figure 5). The recent fortunes created in China have propelled it into second place with 4,700 representatives (5.6% of the global total), followed by Germany (4,000), Japan (3,400), the United Kingdom (3,200) and Switzerland (3,050). Numbers in other BRIC countries are also rising fast, with 1,950 members in Russia, 1,550 in India and 1,500 in Brazil, and strong showings are evident in Taiwan (1,200), Hong Kong (1,100) and Turkey (1,000). Although there is very little comparable data on the past, it is almost certain that the number of UHNW individuals is considerably greater than it was a decade ago. The overall growth in asset values accounts for part of the increase, together with the appreciation of currencies against the US dollar over much of the period. However, it also appears that, notwithstanding the credit crisis and the more recent setbacks, the past decade has been especially conducive to the establishment of large fortunes.
Hail Bernanke (and Kuroda, and Draghi, and Carney, and Jordan, and so on), the ultra high net worth individuals on the chart below salute you.
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Just a suggestion: When you put sentences like “capitalism has been tried. It doesn’t work” in boldface it makes you sound like Fidel Castro, because when an economic system builds the largest, most important economic nation in the history of the world, leading the planet in supplying a vast percentage of people with prosperity, then to simply say “it doesn’t work” somehow seems inadequate.
As an expert on Das Kapital you must know that the corruption coming from Marxism is what is now diluting America’s economic miracle.
Marxism never really got its act together in Europe because the people kept dying of hunger or were slaughtered by the millions by dictators pretending they had an economic system that would work.
Already, the hunger and the slaughter have begun under the boot of international globalism, i.e., Communism.
Sigh.
Are you really this literal?
Do you really need a quick lesson in rhetorical devices to explain how I was using a form of hyperbolic nonsense to accentuate the idiocy of the comment I was replying to? When it's clearly followed by the line "See the trick?" telling you that it wasn't to be taken literally?
On a finance blog where you're supposed to read between the lines of every OP, and see the hidden patterns behind the curtain?
REALLY? Or are you just playing silly little GOP games that if I bothered with could tear apart in seconds?
If you're this literal, for real, and not playing silly childish games, I'd strongly suggest getting a translator.
You're out of your depth. You're so out in the depths, your water-wings aren't stopping the rising mouth full of sharp pointy teeth.
Just a suggestion, old man and the Sea. Feel free to continue, I know old warriors always like to go out on their feet. (Oorah).
There is a certain brainwashed, Mises-steeped element here on ZH that seems to feel that defending free markets is like defending one's belief in God. Absolutely hopeless trying to find any critical thinking there.
People confuse 'free market' nonsense propaganda with capitalism. Capitalism is a great idea and with proper regulation can (and has) work well. The problem is when people start talking about a bunch of stupid bullshit fed to them by either liars or idiots trouble arises.
There is no such thing as a 'free market' for the gawddamn upteenth time, human beings are not gawdamn well-informed rational agents acting in perfect equilibrum with one another.
If you have capital you have freedom on this planet, if you do not have capital all you have is your own ability to produce which is EXTREMELY limited in a globalized rigged game. You will not get ahead through hardwork. You will get ahead by access to power and capital.
Markets are not 'created' by magical job creators, they're created by whoever the people existing within them are and their purchasing power / demands.
Every system in the history of the planet has been bottom up not top down.
Etc.
People argue about socialism, capitalism whatever but always in the most absurd ways. There are pros and cons to many different systems but there are no miracles.
bs
Capitalism doesn't work without some form of Law and Law enforcement (without Law it's Anarchy).
The problem is that Law making and Law enforcement is done by people. Said people can be bought with capital, more so in a Capitalist system where greed is good.
So what happens under a Capitalist system is that those with the most capital buy the Law (or more in general, the State) to preserve and extend the capital they have. The more capital they get, the more they buy the rules, the more capital they get to buy even more and better rules.
This is the flaw of the Capitalist system.
It doesn't work, and what we are seeing now is the natural end game of it.
You nail'd it! Sadly, bitchez still don't get it... I mean WTF?!
What you say is all true.
But it is the same with any system & "ism". Fair law (and the interpretation of law) requires those with that power (judges) put aside their own bias'.
What I consider "socialist states" in Europe have law and rubber stamp that law for the benefit of the state and their/its power (not the people) just like they have done here for a century.
Hitler, Mao, Stalin all had law(s)...it didn't make those laws fair, just or right.
When you get down to it, law is a tool of the state, sold to the public as a benefit for them. Its a very subtle artifice. No one wants to be robbed, so a law is made and enforced on the common people who rob their next door neighbor.
The people are then satisfied.
However, the higher the status of the robber, the more complex the law becomes to deal with them. Instead of the fairness & equal treatment before the law for what they have done.
Thus...we have a Jon Corzine among us and the lawyers (senators & reps) who wrote the law on his/their behalf. We have a Bush & Obama bailing out people & institutions for what the state itself authorized...by law.
It wasn't allowed to fail as capitalism dictates it must if it were capitalism, so its not capitalism.
A very similar argument is made about Communism:
- The so-called "Communist" nations were merely states that had transitioned into the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" (as per Leninist ideals) in their way to the Communist utopia but then had become corrupt, so real Communism (as in, total equality between people) was never been reached.
If one thinks about this kind of argument for a while, the following question arrises:
- When in a political/human ideology, it's "ideal" state cannot be reached or is not stable due human nature, is that not proof that the ideology is flawed when applied to Humanity?
Hence my conclusion that both Communism (the original one, not the propaganda bullshit) and Capitalism are flawed ideologies.
Your idea is that these banks practice capitalism.
It is a huge and dangerous error to continue using the word capitalism in connection with this banker dominating tyranny. These international bankers do not just own and control the means of and for production which was the original definition of capitalism, they now own and control the government that makes the laws.
This change in America's economic system was not a progression of capitalism into tyranny. This was imported tyranny which came from Europe to design the Federal Reserve System so that the private owners of the Federal Reserve could take control of the currency and eventually the public officials they needed to support the cartel.
It is a huge mistake to debate the isms to include capitalism with this takeover of the American system, especially since it was capitalism that built this contract society. This is the system whereby inventors could market their good ideas and achieve wealth, a system whereby smart entrepreneurs could form companies that produced products that the public wanted and would purchase. This was the system that enabled agriculture to develop far beyond capacities ever imagined because the developers were able to gain wealth with their ideas and hard work under America’s patent system.
This was the system that freed man from his role as a beast of burden, tied to the soil scratching out his sustanance, by developing and growing the earth’s resources - by replenishing the earth.
“Why did families live six thousand years in floorless hovels, without windows or chimneys, then, in eighty years and only in these United States, they are taking floors, chimneys, glass windows for granted, and regarding electric lights, porcelain toilets, and window screens as minimum necessities?" asked Rose Wilder Lane in 1943.
“For thousands of years, human beings used their energies in unsuccessful efforts to get wretched shelter and meager food. Then on one small part of the earth, a few men used their energies so effectively that three generations created a completely new world.”
What explains this? Freedom! Free enterprise! Capitalism! America! That's what explains it.
To slander this system by equating it by what Jamie Dimon does and to suggest that the more capitalism grew the more support there was for people like Blankfein is to misunderstand the miracle of supply and demand and honest contracts between buyers and sellers that provided advantages to both and to the growth of an economic miracle such as the world had never seen.
I am amazed at the comments on this blog from people using the terms socialism, communism, capitalism and political aspirations of people such as Adolf Hitler without a practical understanding of what transpired under these systems.
It is no wonder that recent polls show that America's state-educated 18-29 crowd prefers socialism over capitalism. They, like some of the comments I’m reading here, have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and what they are going to face should they believe the incorrect descriptions of capitalism put forth by the globalists, by the international financial tyrants.
Thank you for not testing my teeth, but it was more a courtesy to Tyler, ZH and the old boys than a personal favor.
Good luck, old man.
Well stated JR.
As you say, nmewn, laws that benefit the state at the expense of the citizen is “just like they have done here for a century” and reflect the encroachment of socialism on the freedom of American citizens.
Bastiat’s method of identifying how law was just or unjust was thus: “See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.”
This law Bastiat would call legalized plunder.
It is now up to the American people as to which system they will choose.
Precisely.
Yes JR, as handed down, the pale death will knock on the paupers door as well as the kings tower.
There is no other way.
Educate. I've provided plenty of content regarding the basic starting points.
"Capitalism" is just the marxist word for classical liberalism.
The marxists needed their own word to fit their systemic prophesies of magical destiny.
Werner Sombart's contributions were significant, but he utlimately abandoned destinies of marxism for the destinies of German national socialism.
"Capitalism" is just the marxist word for classical liberalism.
Wowwww why am I even arguing with you, hilariously ignorant.So says the guy who cites Wikipedia as an authoritative source.
If there is one thing that becomes obvious in this conversation is that the best argument is one full of derision and contempt, and heaping any insult on top of it. If this is what passes for intelligence, I will have none of it. It comes across like snot nosed college students so full of themselves that the only reason to have an education is as a tool for bludgeoning their perceived lessers. This isn't fight club. Its more like a shit flinging contest.
Counterpunch has a review of Geoff Mann's new book, Disassembly Required: A Field Guide to Actually Existing Capitalism. I'll be lazy and just post a quote:
"Mann completes the dismantling of the myth by pointing out the fundamental flaw in the champions of capitalism’s argument. That flaw is, of course, that capitalism only works like it’s supposed to in an arena where everything is absolutely perfect; where the market is fair, where capital accumulation is not weighted towards those with more capital, and where wages are the same across the board. Of course, this arena does not exist in real life, only in the fantasies of the Milton Friedman and the like. That, writes Mann, is where the faith in the market comes in. The emphasis, as Mann points out, is on the word “faith.” Like any other religion, the religion of capitalism requires a fundamental leap of faith. Without it, it is like that emperor and his new clothes in the fairy tale."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/31/capitalism-described-capitalism-disassembled/
Power currupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, regardless whether it be capitalism, socialism, communism or any other ism. Captialism claims at its core to be about decentralized power and pure freedom of choice, but with a government to regulate it, the opportunity for corruption grows expotentially. Socialism and communism don't bother with the illusion of freedom but regardless, once powers take control, the growth and reach of the powers will not be abated, regardless of ideology. Conservatives believe salvation lies in capitalism while ignoring the massive growth in government and cooruption while the socialists believe that corruption and inefficiencies can resolved simply by finding those pure of heart to ultimately take the role of the benevolent dictator, of course democratically elected. We all want to believe in some sort of perfection that saves us from ourselves, but none exist, and the pursuit of one will only bring our doom closer to home. How does one know when it is as good as it gets? After we have screwed it all up? Or is there reallly a utopia or perfection? Mental illness is a dangerous thing with a gun in your hand but even so much more so with th epower of government behind you.
Nothing new, move along.
My wealth is too small to appear on the pyramid
It sank
Where's the negative net worth part of the pyramid? Buried underground? And how big is IT!
Those sows.
I think LawsOfPhysics will have a few words to say about this extended abuse of the word "wealth".
If you note at the end of the first paragraph in the article, this article is about who controls assets, not wealth. Wealth = assets minus liabilities. Look at this as an article about where the power lies (with those who control the most assets, nevermind what their liabilities are), and the article might make more sense.
If you take out paper debt how much real wealth is left?
"how much real wealth is left?" Once you accept fractional reserve banking controlled by Central Banks, then all money wealth is an illusion.
Yeah it's all a big illusion until you need to, like, buy something.
If you don't think it's all an illusion, how about we all go down to the bank and withdraw our money. The Puppet masters would shit their pants. In fact, the standard reply to any cash withdrawal of say, $10,000, is we need 24 hours notice, blah, blah, blah.
A minimum $9 of every 10 dollars on all bank balance sheets are a parlour trick. Only $1 exists and I doubt even that. It is a game that is played at the margins.
But thanks for playing along now. Have a nice day.
Names. I want names. In a list. 84,500 +/-.
Then I would like generations. 2? 20?
Then I would like source of wealth. Banking? Industry?
Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2012, eh?
Is there an App for that? Yet?
Oh, here it is: https://infocus.credit-suisse.com/data/_product_documents/_shop/369553/2012_global_wealth_databook.pdf
On to Forbes...
+10. I like Ike. And bloggers who add value.
Tyler forgot to draw the other side of the piramide with the sharp edge down, meaning destroy every 1 else logo of American MegaTrends corp. i.e
Off with their heads?
Not very many heads need to come off to even up the game.
History proves that banks profit from bankrupting a nation. -- "The Secrets of the Federal Reserve" by Mullins (P. 56.)
Discussions about the rich and the properties they own…Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, Alcoa and the rest… should also include a mention of the truly rich (far beyond the Gates and Buffett newcomers). These are the owners of the magic key, the key to the United States treasury.
Most people don’t fully understand what ownership of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York really means. But in recent decades, it has been demonstrated that this private ownership means the Congress and the Administration will do exactly what you want. And these owners and their wealth are never included in IRS/BLS statistics.
To own the “U.S.” Federal Reserve System means that the medium of exchange for all Americans, the buying and selling, is what you say it is. And even though there are printed rules giving you vast leeway on handling America’s economy, your leverage with elected officials is so strong that you can select the winners and the losers among the peoples of the world and all American and international companies.
Bill Gates would hardly realize what it means to be truly rich for he needs to lobby extensively to get his special privileged advantages from the Congress. No lobbying is required from the owners of the Federal Reserve, a.k.a. the owners of the Congress.
The following excerpt from the Federal Reserve Act, dealing with the banking corporations the Fed authorizes for foreign banking business, demonstrates just how extensively the Act supplants the Constitution of the United States.
Section 25A. Banking Corporations Authorized to Do Foreign Banking Business
2. Purpose
The Congress hereby declares that it is the purpose of this section to provide for the establishment of international banking and financial corporations operating under Federal supervision with powers sufficiently broad to enable them to compete effectively with similar foreign-owned institutions in the United States and abroad; to afford to the United States exporter and importer in particular, and to United States commerce, industry, and agriculture in general, at all times a means of financing international trade, especially United States exports; to foster the participation by regional and smaller banks throughout the United States in the provision of international banking and financing services to all segments of United States agriculture, commerce, and industry, and, in particular small business and farming concerns; to stimulate competition in the provision of international banking and financing services, throughout the United States; and, in conjunction with each of the preceding purposes, to facilitate and stimulate the export of United States goods, wares, merchandise, commodities, and services to achieve a sound United States international trade position. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall issue rules and regulations under this section consistent with and in furtherance of the purposes described in the preceding sentence, and, in accordance therewith, shall review and revise any such rules and regulations at least once every five years, the first such period commencing with the effective date of rules and regulations issued pursuant to section 3(a) of the International Banking Act of 1978, in order to ensure that such purposes are being served in light of prevailing economic conditions and banking practices.
[12 USC 611a. As added by act of Sept. 17, 1978 (92 Stat. 608).]
http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section25a.htm
"In the United States we have, in effect, two governments....We have the duly constituted Government....Then we have an independent, uncontrolled and uncoordinated government in the Federal Reserve System, operating the money powers which are reserved to Congress by the Constitution." [Congressman Wright Patman, Chairman of the House Banking & Currency Committee, speech on the House floor, 1967]
"The FED officials own more than 100 million dollars (of stocks) [update that to billions] while making decisions influencing these stock prices..." -- Congressman Wright Patman, "The History of the Federal Reserve. How to Replace It or How to Reform It" by Howard Metz.
+50. If ppl would only clue in, instead of getting lost in the weeds or distracted by noise and lights, like little kids.
always was, always will be
look back at the Pharaoh, they also had slave labor, look at ww2, jewish slave labor, look at now, chinese slave labor,
there will be no change.
The 1% isn't defined by money; money is just the score-card for the more boring players.
The real question is: what are they doing with it?
could be that...
maybe they are really just suffering?
The Fed will own 99.9% of all assets when all is said and done.
And who owns the Fed? Given that they are a PRIVATE CARTEL, with specific shareholders and shares owned an extremely guarded secret.
"Land of The Free, Home of the Brave." My ass.
In the words of a 1970's author: "The US is the banana republic par excellence"
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/markets-under-a-monetary-easing-spell-bis-2013-06-02?link=MW_story_latest_news
The Bank for International Settlements says markets are rising mostly because of these efforts, because expansionary monetary policy lowers the discount rate at which future profits are valued.
The BIS points out that even as advanced economy stock market indexes have gained, commodity prices have fallen and emerging market stocks have not gained as much. That suggests monetary policy is giving these assets a boost that the economic data on their own might not warrant.
The “ride to normality” as the economy recovers will be “bumpy,” says Stephen Cecchetti, head of the monetary and economic department of the BIS.
While “volatility per se is not necessarily bad,” it does create risks, notably to the interest-sensitive assets on the balance sheets of banks, investors and others, Cecchetti said.
“With the outstanding volume of government bonds greater than ever, interest rate risk — expressed as potential losses in relation to GDP — is at a record high in most advanced economies. And these losses will be spread across banks, households and industrial firms,” he says.
Separately, the BIS found there was a sharp, $467 billion reduction in cross-border interbank lending between the third and the fourth quarter of 2012, amid concerns over European finances.
"...interest rate risk — expressed as potential losses in relation to GDP — is at a record high in most advanced economies. And these losses will be spread across banks, households and industrial firms…”
-- Stephen Cecchetti, head of the monetary and economic department of the BIS. (Mr. Cecchetti held a number of positions including Barbara and Richard M. Rosenberg Professor of Global Finance at the Brandeis International Business School, Executive Vice President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and editor of the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. In addition to a textbook entitled Money, Banking and Financial Markets, Professor Cecchetti has authored numerous articles on macroeconomics and monetary policy (including Weathering the Financial Crisis: Good Policy or Good Luck by Stephen G Cecchetti, Michael R King and James Yetman.) He has been a regular contributor to the Financial Times and is a founding contributor of VOX a policy portal.)—Wikipedia)
This is banker talk which justifies stealing as legitimate economic policy. These huge institutions like BIS with their connections simply manipulate and fleece investors as grain is harvested by a machine.
And, then, cavalierly write it off as “these losses will be spread across banks, households and industrial firms…”
World Bank ex-Senior Council Attorney Karen Hudes, while beginning to reveal questionable inner workings at the World Bank and subsequently was fired, says the powerful Bank for International Settlements serves as “the club of these private central bankers.” Says Hudes: “Now, are people going to want interest on their country’s debts to continue to be paid to that group when they find out the secret tricks that that group has been doing? Don’t forget how they’ve enriched themselves extraordinarily and how they’ve taken taxpayer money for the bailout.”
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/15473-world-bank-insider-blows-whistle-on-corruption-federal-reserve
HUDES UPDATE: Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) - On 13 May 2013 Karen Hudes, who reported improper accounting at the World Bank, and threats against members of the Board of Executive Directors, was arrested for trespass in the World Bank headquarters building, handcuffed, left for one hour in a police vehicle outside the building, and thrown into jail.
188 Ministers of Finance reinstated Hudes to settle her bondholder litigation in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and to qualify for the US contribution to the World Bank capital increase requiring the effects of retaliation to be eliminated under § 7082 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012 (Pub. L. 112-74).
The previous month, the Director of the Secret Service, Julia Pierson, overruled the Chairman of the World Bank Development Committee and President of Poland’s National Bank, Dr. Marek Belka. Belka had issued Hudes a security pass to attend the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings. The Secret Service barred Hudes from attending the final two days of the three day meetings held 19-21 April.
Prior to her arrest, Hudes requested Michael Reese, Commander of the District of Columbia’s Second Precinct Police Department, to ascertain her employment status with Dr. Belka. Besides trumped-up charges, Hudes states to nsnbc international, that she is being offered bribes and that she has received thinly veiled threats.
Besides revealing deep-rooted, systemic corruption at the core of the Bretton Woods institutions, her case is revealing deep systemic problems with the US legal system, law-enforcement agencies and government crime.
Allied Barton, responsible for Hudes´arrest, is a contractor of security personnel for the World Bank. Allied Barton is owned by members of the same cartel that controls the Bank for International Settlements, 40 percent of the asset value of 43,000 transnational corporations and financial institutions, and 60% of their annual earnings. Allied Barton ignored the World Bank’s governing bodies and member countries to prevent Karen Hudes from being reinstated.
The mainstream media, controlled by the megabank and conglomerate, is still refusing to cover Hudes’ whistleblower allegations of deep seated corruption in the US federal government. Hudes was fired in retaliation for reporting corruption at the World Bank to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations….
Full Document
http://nsnbc.me/2013/06/02/trumped-up-charges-and-thinly-vei...
The problem (at least in the US) is that there is 0 notion of multigenerational wealth. This is mostly due to the separation and independance of families which is very heavilly pushed. It also has to do with people thinking of new generations economic success in terms of things as opposed to financial assets and being able to support ones self without working.
Wealth is a fallacy because it requires demand and a buyer. Only eternal wealth is food and natural resources.
At some point some sociopath will order a 1500 foot megayacht and the starving masses may catch on that it's made of their flesh.
If they need 1500 feet, that amount can be harvested from only 750 of the masses.
Wanna know something really tragic? I calculated my assets and figure I fall somewhere in the bottom of the 2d tier with assets over 100K, assets only, no liabilities.... but it doesn't matter worth a fig. I feel as broke as when I could save a few hundred bucks in the bank. 100K is the new 100.
Wer'e all one calamity away from total ruin.
Same, but I don't know whether to count my "assets" as liabilities...
Abolish the FED.
I missed the boat. Perhaps somebody can help me out to get to the 1 million from less than $1000?
Would be appreciated. Trust me on that!
Thanks in advance!
This explains why I feel like I'm stomping straw into clay to make bricks for the Pharaoh.
In that case, I suggest you start a new religion. One with a robust plan to propel you and your kind to the top.
If I use the "S" word with "reign" in it I'll get tagged as a domestic terrorist by DHS and the other goons of the Kleptoligarchy.
Yet the pryamids still stand. I wonder if there is anything standing that our culture built in a couple of thousand years? Or is our life's accomplishments to be polution and nuclear waste?
And if global money printing stopped, what then would be their share of the ownership?
How much role does the growing supply of global fiats play in that increase, I wonder.
this is the PRIMAL legacy of Reaganomics and Thatcherism; the return of neo-oligarchy and the death of the horizontal meme that Enlightenment bequeathed man. As western civilization is where it was invented its where it stands to be most lost as well.
The lines are drawn : its either vertical and totalitarian from now on or its back to some reality of horizontality and Plato's world of delegated republicanism that respects rule of law under separation of powers.
In the space of 40 odd years, since revocation of Bretton Woods the world has slipped into the oligarchy meme of : our money your problem and concomittant " we are civilization and you are the evil empire"; so prevalent in paranoid, hegemonial empires; "for us or against us" sums it up so aptly. Yesterday as today.
We cannot ALL become willing serfs again. It goes against the grain of History.
To each his own and to those in between the chamber of purgatory. Petrarch was he who showed us how to avoid Dante's inferno by choosing the high road to being noble in soul and not the devil's useful fool and unknowing tool singing "I love gold".
The devil today is the false meme of "me first" and its heralds are the Oligarchy of NWO.
Me first and 80 of the goodies as well ! That's capitalism gone wild!
From a Zero Hedge commentator on 7/5/09 and one of the reasons I have continued to come here.
Moral men pitted against the immoral have this advantage, primary allegiance to loyalty and honor. Predators and parasites have low latancy loyalty if any. Moral men draw from a deep well of everlasting water while immoral sup dew and tears. No way can they maintain a cohesive esprit de corps only on plunderous gain; men that subscribe to such venality have none of the other qualifying virtues with which to maintain their power. Like the USA, betrayed from within by self-servers instead of men of majesty, (the bankers) will be brought down by the decrepitude of avarice.
Money is an instrument which conveys man's goodwill service to fellow man in furnishing him the essentials of survival and luxuries of hard won age in grade. Losing sight of that, men seek profit in algorithms, sneakery, subtle diminishment of the institutions and exchanges.
They never prosper long. It is like an error in genetic code which destroys the creature with cancer. Men who trade without the final object (increase of joy for their fellow man) are in the wrong path, and sabotage their own futures. Here and in eternity.
Yes, if we could only go back to the good old days prior to your 40 years. World Wars I & II, Korea and even further with Nam. And lets not forget The Great Depression, and the glorious Carter days with unending prosperity and joy. Everyone is looking for a theory that supports their ideology.
Life isn't fair and certainly as measured herein it is grossly unfair. So what's your new system? If you distributed all the 1%-ers assets, you'd still have a world of haves and have nots, a world of workers and drones, a world of inequality, a world of hurt for some. The question remains, what the fuck is your solution. New world currency? Political system? It's still and from the looks of it will always be a fucking Animal Farm.
Here's the future if we can get the global idiots to think beyond the next reporting period ...... these girls have THE message: http://wewillblowyourmind.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-girl-who-silenced-world.html Click a plus 1 if you watched it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOe9PJrbo0s
Not my bailiwick as your video shows the world as it already is.
Once the elite finish gutting the middle class, the next step is going to be population reduction.
Sheesh. The world is broke and its good to be a gangsta'.
I'm amazed, but perhaps shouldn't be, that no has thus far made any astute observations from all these charts and data.
Just for grins...
1. And yet American millionaires bitch the loudest about taxes.
2. And yet India is discouraging its ppl to buy more gold.
3. Chile and Morocco had the largest % gain in millionaires.
4. India + Africa do next to nothing to the wealth ownership. Yet they both have billions of mouths to feed. And of the two, only Africa has real resources. / Agenda 21 candidates? /s
5. The US, UK and France have the most millionaires. Meaning, they have the most to lose, and these are the very countries scrapping in Africa and the ME (former British and French colonies), by leveraging/using NATO fools.
Etc, etc.
Truck drivers support protests in Turkey:
http://www.rightnow.io/breaking-news/orange_bn_1370098762047.html
What Turks think about Erdogan:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BLx6KNcCIAEcwA-.jpg
Hackers take over Turkish government websites.
http://mashable.com/2011/06/10/anonymous-turkey/
For generations
The rich get richer and the poor get laid off!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y041-eT6QrI
circa 1921
I'm glad we live in a world/country where you have a chance to make it if that is your goal. What's funny is if these very people who spent their time and efforts instead on actually discovering and fufulling a need/nitch they would/could be as rich as they wanted. Sick of all the money envy everywhere. Keep spending your energy and efforts worrying about rich and you guarantee will never make it. Only losers worry and complain about rich corporations or individuals.
Let me say it once more: What's WRONG with you?
lol. +1 Nice avatar
when the shtf those maggots will find out damn quick that they don't own jack shit
Looks like .6% are John Galt. Whatever would we do without them?
Fiat is not wealth, its just paper.
It probably takes 5-10 million in net worth to be dollar wealthy now, in years past it was more like 1-5 million. But even then you are just scratching the surface.
But I wonder how many of these people own real wealth...physical gold?
Many of the generation above me in my family friends are millionaires but I would guess most of them only have a small collection of gold jewelry and that's about it.
Jeanette MacDonald - Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life (1950)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACuo2jxezIQ
.
Steve Winwood // Traffic - John Barleycorn (Must Die)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8878chOvfI
.
Watch "John Barleycorn (Must Die)" video
http://www.lyricsmania.com/john_barleycorn_must_die_lyrics_traffic.html
Lyrics to John Barleycorn (Must Die) :
There were three men came out of the west, their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn oath
John Barleycorn must die
They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til Midsummer's Day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And these three men made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the waist, serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came onto a barn
And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots, without a little barleycorn
This is such a strange topic in all parameters, due to the reach of these .6% Ultra Wealthy, they are in control of everything and beyond. The main reason, IMO, that things are going from worse to worserer is because of the lack of accountability. These people have blatantly gutted the economic world for self preservation of their wealth, paid off governments, and live beyond the real world, almost untouchable. Step one in fixing the system, again IMO, would be to reassert accountability on these officials both government and corporate types, when they are held responsible for their actions change would start to happen. Get rid of the taxation systems, that alone will instantaniously reign in the reach and spreading of our government, this may also spark corporations with manufacturing to bring their business back to the states as they previously were.
The money system, I don't really know of a reform or fix for that. In a dream world I'd said hit the delete button and allow states to delegate their own money/bartering/trade/what-have-yous. I feel the damning notion was the deep entaglement of world economy, the world backing itself on the green back, America should never have allowed that to happen, that alone has entangled us as taxpayers in the systematic problems in every other country whether we like it or not. Transversely now China for example owns massive amounts of our debt, with which we are never going to be able to pay off. This system they have installed is like a massive game of Domino's, if they allow one to go the rest will tumble.
I look at our MASSIVE guberment and can only laugh. They have spread themselves so thin that they are not being called to the carpet on their policies in a sense. We are spending Trillions of dollars of already fake money, but we are focusing more on "liberation, welfare / humanitarian efforts" is numerous countries while these fucks allow our once great country to fall to shit. You ask questions, you think differently, or if you refuse to play the game and you are all of a sudden carrying labels, wearing a tinfoil hat, or you magically disappear.
I dunno I could be just an idiot that has no clue what he is talking about and just upset by the rip between wealth diversities, but I feel at least I am asking things and seeing if there would be another way, a better way. Please comment and let me know your thoughts on it all or tell me I'm wrong, at least that conversation would be more beneficial than the conversations between the doops making decisions that effect our daily lives.
And what's your fucking point? This site generally errs on the side of capitalism and libertarianism so I take offense to this gesture.
In ANY company don't the managers make more than the people they supervise, the board of directors more than the managers, and the CEO more than the Vice President?
The line of thinking posed by this article is almost like saying it's not "fair" Warrent Buffest makes more than all the sales people at BH subsidiaries COMBINED. Which is a completely perverse way of looking at the situation.
The reason rich people get rich is because they are shrewd in business related affairs, posses a talent that most others do not, are highly intelligent, or driven beyond measure or approach. There is a small fraction who also come about wealth by luck such as inheriting a fortune, but is that so bad? I don't see people being vilified for winning the lottery.
There are always going to be those who control the vast amount of wealth in any society dictated by communist or capitalistic ideologies (or some shade in between) The difference is that with capitalism the individual has a chance through his own competence to achieve that level of success, where the opposite side of the spectrum, there is no chance - you are either in the circle of power or you are fucked. The Carnegies and Rockefellers of our country MADE themselves, and started out dirt-poor, where juxtaposed against the uber wealthy in China ALL have a connection to government mainly through family.
egad
What the hell is WRONG with you?
REfer to rape, plunder, steal, duh!
This aint about organic wealth creation, its about transferring wealth from makers to fakers.
That's only $3 million apiece. I might be in the top .6% and I hate those guys.
If you own a home in America, you have more indivdual wealth than most people in the world. You are part of the 7.5%
Fwd soviet!
Pennsylvania judge sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling teens to prisons
Disgraced Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for conspiring with private prisons to sentence juvenile offenders to maximum sentences for bribes and kickbacks which totaled millions of dollars.
In the private prison industry the more time an inmate spends in a facility, the more of a profit is reaped from the state. Ciavearella was a figurehead in a conspiracy in the state of Pennsylvania which saw thousands of young men and women unjustly punished and penalized in the name of corporate profit.
http://www.examiner.com/article/pennsylvania-judge-sentenced-to-28-years...
Aren't you tired of this crap and feel like you really can't do anything about it? Me too.
That's why I propose a plan called "Drain the Rich". Nothing illegal, but a concerted, massive effort to do whatever we can, using our massive numbers to take action with the goal of redistributing the wealth of these assholes to the rest of us. Kinda reminds me of a guy named "Sheik-ur-money". In this case, shake the top 8% up so as to let the real "trickle down" begin.
That's all I have for now, ideas encouraged.
I prefer Sheik Yerbouti.
Of course you can, so can everyone else! One just have to realize that money is a way of controlling physical resource without (constant) visibility of guns. So buy land, have/acquire REAL KNOWLEDGE about the physical world, and not only external but internal too ( your food for example ). Make physical things and you will be empowered ( and will have satisfaction as a bonus too)! At that point you will realize that your level of freedom only grows in proportion of you knowledge and skills relevant to the physical world.
Did those with wealth earn it or steal it?
That's the question.
Not what percent "has" what.
It's not proper for the govt to "distribute" wealth "fairly." The only fair distribution is people getting what they produce (or receiving it rightfully from its producer).
Surprising how few seem to think that way.
I completely agree with you on that. For example that 20 something guy who created Tumblr in his moms apartment in Brooklyn, that became a billionaire over night when Yahoo bought he idea. Or when tycoons become wealthy from creating, delivering, or what not a product/service that everyone wants or uses, there is nothing wrong with those people being rich.
You're 100% right with "Did those with wealth earn it or steal it?", its becoming more and more apparent which way most of these people became so wealthy, but there is still a small percentage that did earn it and they shouldn't have their wealth dwindled away.
I did my own completely independent work up of "all the assets in the world" By asset type.
This was last year, I came up with 196 Trillion. Which matches nicely with their total. However, I wish they had broke it down by asset type.
Check it out
http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/2012/08/summary-of-all-money-in-world.html
Hey look kids - a giant, global pyramid scheme! Look, it comes in green, or even red and orange and green.
Now remember, you're in the fat bit at the bottom because you're labouring under the illusion that the world is fair, just and stable.
When you look at the USA wartime spending in Iraq, you see how a goodly number of politicians and their families joined the 1%. That $12 billion described below is now all missing, according to a Congressional committee's investigation.
---
The US flew nearly $12bn in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq, then distributed the cash with no proper control over who was receiving it and how it was being spent.
The staggering scale of the biggest transfer of cash in the history of the Federal Reserve has been graphically laid bare by a US congressional committee.
In the year after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 nearly 281 million notes, weighing 363 tonnes, were sent from New York to Baghdad for disbursement to Iraqi ministries and US contractors. Using C-130 planes, the deliveries took place once or twice a month with the biggest of $2,401,600,000 on June 22 2004, six days before the handover.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_kskdHCOiI
I can remember seeing them throwing stacks of dollars from semi trailers!
Allow me to elaborate. Run>on sentences are for bidden< We ALL have a vested interest.
Freedom < Privacy-Security-> Nazi Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
http://goo.gl/TYL0n
Can you overlap the Global Wealth graph of 0.6% holding of a fiat that has no intrinsic value vs. % of armed citizens?
Socialist tripe. Class warfare by losers. This article is nothing but propaganda.
Paul Bremer tried it with 20 bn and said "I acknowledge that I made mistakes and that with the benefit of hindsight, I would have made some decisions differently. Our top priority was to get the economy moving again. The first step was to get money into the hands of the Iraqi people as quickly as possible." - FAIL
Ben Bernanke - Same logic with Trillions instead Billions - Same result - FAIL
BOOOOOOOO