The American Super-Wealthy Elite
July 24th 2007 02:49
Back in the 90s, a cool mil might have gotten you started. Now being a millionaire is so middle-of-the-road that low income families laugh at your predicament.
An eye-opening story in the Observer this week... the income disparity between the poor and the uber-Mega-wealthy is growing at an alarming rate, with a smaller proportion of people owning a greater and growing proportion of the wealth.
"In 2005 the top one per cent of earners in the US gained 14 per cent in income in real terms, while the rest of the country gained less than one per cent.
The situation is especially bad for the severely poor - those living at half the poverty level - whose numbers are at a 32-year high. The rich are getting richer but are not bringing everyone else with them. 'If you look at the impact of the last 20 years it seems pretty clear that trickledown just does not work,' said Paul Buchheit, economics professor at Chicago's Harold Washington College."
Read the Article!
It's at the point where being 'affluent' is Wall Street-slang for 'basically poor'.
"...you need about $10m to be considered entry-level rich."
The article claims that America is returning to the 20s, when super industrialists lived in their own universe, with butlers and chalets and diamond-encrusted dinner rolls and toilets that use refined oil and buxom mistresses and partying on private islands.
It definitely seems that way, with the wealthiest fraction of Americans controlling the political power in the country, distracting the working American with Monday Night Football and a convenient war.
Butlers?
".. it is [the rich] who are responsible for the rebirth of the butler industry, which was all but dead in the Seventies and is now facing a shortage of trained staff. So keen is the demand that many can expect to earn a six-figure salary when they graduate from booming butler schools."
As long as Paris Hilton keeping proving that she doesn't wear underwear, most of the public are happy to associate tycoons with Hilton and her fiendish cronies, who, while reckless, are at least photogenic enough to distract the masses from the real sharks in the bay.
The ones that finance political campaigns, and keep the taxes low. Sure, on paper, it looks like you pay more tax when you make more money. But that's only for the middle-class, who are suckers enough to be in the worst position of all... at the upper end, there's all kinds of hidden tax breaks for the maniacal wealthy.
You're looking at me skeptically, wondering if there's really that many people who have that much money, aren't you?
"In 1985 there were just 13 US billionaires. Now there are more than 1,000. In 2005 the US saw 227,000 new millionaires being created. One survey showed that the wealth of all US millionaires was $30 trillion, more than the GDPs of China, Japan, Brazil, Russia and the EU combined."
This is how we do it.
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Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
It's all on paper though. It's property.
This makes me wonder if the crap they have to go through on 'Survivor' and ilk is worth it...
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
These things worry me a lot. For all the money, their behaviour is bizarre.
And political control is a real concern.
We'll be having our own revolution next.
This leads to bloodshed. And it used to be 'behead'
katyzzz
Comment by Howard
Real Crash
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
It's a little disconerting to see how much the gap is widening between the 'have's' and the 'have not's'.
Comment by Winston
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
Comment by Renata
A Geek Family
You've been tagged here.
Comment by Renata
A Geek Family