OT: Richest 2% own more than half the world

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The family that owns the parent co.(ALDI Inc.) of the co. I work for(Mississippi Bakery), right now anyway, is something like the 9th richest family in the world. Something like 9 billion in assets. BASTARDS!!!
 
only $1M to get into the top 1%? Interesting considering how many millionaires Wal-Mart and Intel and Microsoft alone have made....
 
Interesting considering how many millionaires Wal-Mart and Intel and Microsoft alone have made....
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My father-in-law is it that top 1%.



The real sad thing is that there are that many people that are that poor and we still fight to keep the minimum wage down.





Tom
 
What should the minimum wage be, Caymen? And should it vary from state to state and even within states as widely as the COL does, or should it be nationally fixed?
 
The scarcity mentality kicks in again....





Take a thought about the Abundance mentality. There are opportunities for everyone to excell and become millionaires. However, to do it you need hard work and most of the time now you need an education.



Also, how many Union members are millionaires and became so just by working their job? Most millionaires are self-made.



The minimum wage should be ZERO! You should get paid exactly what the job is worth. If the job paid $4/hour, not many people would take the job. The open market would decide what the job should pay.



Tell me Cay-

Does your Union contract include a stipulation that you get a set percentage increase if the minimum wage goes up? Probably do since 90% of the Union contracts do. It's no wonder that the Unions support a minimum wage increase.



In 3 years we'd be back discussing it again anyway. The minimum wage creates an artificial price inflation as it now costs producers and retailers more to get the product/service to their customer.



If you don't like the minimum wage, get some skills and improve yourself. There are jobs out there, a 4.5% unemployment says so. If you try to make a career out of being a McDonald's cashier, don't blame me that you can't afford a Caddillac, gold jewelry and the newest gaming gear.



 
And should it vary from state to state and even within states as widely as the COL does, or should it be nationally fixed?
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It should be fair, like a COL, since it costs more to live in California then it does in Ohio.



I could live on minimum wage in parts of PA where a house costs $10,000 to buy.





Tom
 
Anyone that is out of high school and is still dependant on making minimum wage has obviously made some bad choices in life. Politicians only fight for a higher minimum wage because union contracts are based, in part, off that rate. The class envy that is so pervasive in this country is pathetic. I'm not "rich" but I hope to be one day and in the meantime, I'm not going to knock someone because they've worked their ass off to get ahead. Hell, according to Dumacrats...I am rich because I have a job and can support myself and my family (a novel concept).

 
Possibly, but without having to do it myself, I can only speculate. For ever person that could live under the current Minimum wage, there are 1 million that couldn't.





Tom
 
SOMEONE has to work in the fast food restaurants or else the rest of us will starve. [Broken External Image]:
 
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.
 
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.
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The study mentioned above compares the whole world. With all this Globalization, you would think everything might start to tip the other direction. Unfortunatly, it isn't happening.





Tom
 
Look closely at this story, and how it was written. See the quote below:



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.
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Global income, wealth, and personal income are earned, not distributed.



Neal Boortz had some poignant comments on this news story today. He based his on a similar article in yesterday's Financial Times.







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.
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The Financial Times story is linked below. Read this, the Reuters story at the beginning of this thread, and just about any other news story out there about this subject. Then take into consideration the fact<
 
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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Reminds me of the lady at the grocery store last weekend. 200.00+ of groceries. Goes to pay with Food Stamps". She only has 150.00 in Food Stamps. Reaches for a credit card, and had 8 credit cards to choose from. And, the way she was dressed you would never know she was on Food Stamps.
 

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