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85 Richest People On Earth Now Have Same Wealth as Bottom Half of Global Population

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by gifford1967, Jan 21, 2014.

  1. larsv8

    larsv8 Contributing Member

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    No, it is a problem, a big one.

    There needs to be a serious disincentive to become ultra wealthy. It causes a disproportionate share of influence in public policy, often to the detriment of the public good.

    It needs to be:

    1 person 1 vote

    not as it is now:

    1 dollar 1 vote
     
  2. AroundTheWorld

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    I had a feeling that the math couldn't add up...
     
  3. jank1434

    jank1434 Contributing Member

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    So, who would win in a fight: 3.5 billion toddlers or 85 full grown adults?
     
  4. ipaman

    ipaman Contributing Member

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    that wealth is not liquid. it includes stocks of corporations which employ millions and would be worthless without workers. so it's a nice sensational headline but not completely accurate.

    that said, i do think executive pay relative to work force pay is jacked up.
     
    #24 ipaman, Jan 22, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2014
  5. Jontro

    Jontro Member

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    Didn't know bigtexxx was that rich...
     
  6. glynch

    glynch Contributing Member

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    To clarify. Your ideology requires you to defend this abomination.

    Count me not impressed.

    Good luck with the Megalottery and the Ron Paul websites..

    BTW my post was sarcastic. How about we recast the figures in American terms since you would feel more comfortable defending that distribution of wealth. The 7 or 8 members of the Walton family having more money than the lower 50% of Americans. (Hey, get the exact numbers of Waltons or whether it is lower 45% or lower 55% of Americans don't quibble).
     
  7. glynch

    glynch Contributing Member

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    Can someone download a clip of peasant women in Sudan toting containers of water 10 miles a day back to their hut?

    He can watch it on his i-phone while on a break from watching Ron Paul speeches while doing cardio at 1:30 pm at the gym.

    PS sorry if the The REalistic post was sarcastic, but given the Realist is the name of one of the "libertarian" mags I assume he actually believes it.
     
  8. glynch

    glynch Contributing Member

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    One of the interesting things about libertarians, and unreconstructed Stalinists, Maoists, Jihadists etc. is that they can never be moved/shamed by suffering in the now or present generation as they have the future Nirvana which justifies it all in the real present.
     
  9. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

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    Ah, the ol "Poor people today haz cell fones, Henry Rockefeller no haz cell phones, ERGO poor people today > Rockefeller" excuse that gets trotted out when there's nothing left to say.

    I wonder if back in the day, Louis XVI said something like "well, yeah they're starving but TODAY WE GOT TENNIS AND PRINTING PRESSES- so QUALITY OF LIFE PROGRESS!"
     
  10. gifford1967

    gifford1967 Contributing Member
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    Ummm. No.

    The article I posted did not claim "that 85 individuals own nearly half of the world’s wealth". Apparently an earlier version of the LA times story misstated the Oxfam report. The report, and the article I posted, says that the 85 richest people in the world have the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the world's population. That's not the same thing as half the world's wealth.

    Here's the correction from the original LA Times article (which I did not post).

     
    #30 gifford1967, Jan 22, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2014
  11. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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  12. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    Thanks. I saw that right away in Commodore's post.

    I am not surprised by the figure. After coming back from rural Philippines and seeing the amount of people living in shacks built out over the water that is how many of the people live in the world. An middle class American might have as much wealth as a whole village in the rural Philippines.
     
  13. Nook

    Nook Member

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    This is not sustainable.... not long term. Eventually the poor (and if you are talking about HALF THE WORLD are we really talking about the poor??) will take it from the super wealthy. I hope it isn't while any of us are alive, because it won't be peaceful or isolated revolution like in the past... it will be extremely violent, destructive and God only knows the outcome.....
     
  14. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Contributing Member

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  15. lpbman

    lpbman Member

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    Indeed, the situation is unsustainable, but I wouldn't be so sure that the poor will win.
    Money is power. That power is pretty well secured. The response to a real threat to the congressional meal ticket is something the urban poor and stereotypical well armed red neck is utterly unprepared for.


    At minimum, a majority of the disaffected must coalesce into a unified force.
     
  16. Kam

    Kam Contributing Member

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    He's not on the list.


    (he's 86)
     
  17. pirc1

    pirc1 Contributing Member

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    Arab spring started because of too much wealth concentrated at the top in those countries. The super rich will never learn until the uprising is up on them.
     
  18. krnxsnoopy

    krnxsnoopy Contributing Member

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    Yeah, the author is a moron. I have no idea where in the article he got "the 85 wealthiest hold half the world's wealth". Reading comprehension is not this author's forte.

    What's more funny is he's implying the poorest 50% holds half of the world's wealth. Does that make sense to anybody??

    So what about the 49.999999 percent in-between? They must have no money. LOL
     
  19. GladiatoRowdy

    GladiatoRowdy Contributing Member

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    To be fair, that author was replying to an article which mistakenly claimed "half the world's wealth," he just didn't bother looking for the accurate figures before posting an idiotic comment.
     
  20. Rocketman1981

    Rocketman1981 Member

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    I wonder what that number was in 1700, 1800 and 1900?

    In terms of top 1% of the world versus total wealth of the lower 50% of the world's population. My guess is that it was more concentrated and has gotten better over time.
     

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