Do you believe this to be true? 85 people control 50% of the the world's wealth.

by fulltimestudent 18 Replies latest social current

  • fulltimestudent
    fulltimestudent
  • darthfader
    darthfader

    Your graphic is misleading.. The top 85 people are more wealthy then the poorest 1/2 of the population. The graphic (above) leaves out other 99.9999976% of the wealthier 1/2....

    But it's still a dismal statistic.

  • mynameislame
    mynameislame

    Does anyone else think that bitcoins or something like them might be what brings things back into balance?

  • fulltimestudent
    fulltimestudent

    You're right Darth. Except its not 'my' graphic. Oxfam (according to the Independent) supplied the graphic.

    and the Independent text agrees with you.

    The tiny elite of multibillionaires, who could fit into a double-decker bus, have piled up fortunes equivalent to the wealth of the world’s poorest 3.5bn people, according to a new analysis by Oxfam.

    But it still does not add up - We have three groups:

    A. The wealthiest 85 people.

    B. The poorest half of humanity

    C. All the rest of the world population (including, presumably those above poverty level to wealthy) whose wealth must be more than the total of the poorer half.

    The Oxfam group may not include any mathematicians, or am I being more dense than usual today?

    -----------------------------------

    But the real question is this. Is it a bad thing for half the world's wealth to be controlled by 85 (presumably very skilled at creating wealth) very wealthy people? Don't those individuals represent the peak of the market economy?

    Who else should/could control it? A bureacrat or a committee? Well, to some extent committees probably do control it. While ultimate control may be vested in one man (or family) it is more likely that there are any number of Boards of Directors who control this wealth day by day.

    Is there a better way?

  • fulltimestudent
    fulltimestudent

    fortunes equivalent to the wealth of the world’s poorest 3.5bn people,

    Another question: 3.5 billion people is a lot of people, but half the world's wealth is also a lot of money. The poorer half must also include some people with some money. Should the dividing line really be set at 50% of the worlds population?

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    well I read some where that the Walton familys wealth (Walmart) is more then the bottom 50% of the US populations combined wealth.

  • mynameislame
    mynameislame

    I could rant on this all day.

    Money is an illusion (from the movie Blow)

    Keep in mind i'm speaking from the point of view of a person living in the USA.

    What does all that money get you? When the wealthy have all the money what are they going to do with it? At some point it becomes worthless. The average person will have to find other ways to fill their needs, farming, bartering or something else.

    Even so, at this point it seems like even the poorest people are better off than they were years ago when things were less unbalanced.

    It always amazes me when I see the cleaners in my office walking around talking on their $60 a month $2-300 smart phones.

    When I was younger we didn't have all the latest fasions, toys, cars, Mc Mansions etc..

  • prologos
    prologos

    I read a story a long time ago, where a poorer person wrote rich man , questioning the justice of it all, asking for a dhare , and he received it. 50 cents, or there abouts. If you re-distributed, really distributed the wealth evenly, in good time it would end up in the same hands again. There is wisdom in allowing the capable to do their thing. responsably. look at the Gate(s)-keepers.

  • darthfader
    darthfader

    Some wealth inequality is not a problem -- in some cases it may be a good thing. But the level of inequality in today's global economy is just absurd. I'm not sure that a "tax" and redistribute methodology will work since governments are wholly incabable of operating efficiently -- most of the taxation would be lost in inefficiencies.

  • abbagail
    abbagail

    Interesting that they used the Communist Clenched-Fist symbol in their graphic.

    ~~

    @mynameislame: As for Bitcoin, discussion just yesterday/today about that, first a CON, then a PRO article:

    1/19/14: "Bitcoins - Trial Run for Cashless Currency":

    http://henrymakow.com/2014/01/bitcoin-paving-the-way.html

    1/20/14: "In Defence of Bitcoin":

    http://henrymakow.com/2014/01/In-Defence-of-Bitcoins.html

    ~~

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