You can, it just doesn't make it probable. The vast majority of people will fail in their endeavors to become wealthy. Simply working hard or having a good idea won't make you insanely rich. Personally, I want to be in the top 20%
will smith, The Pursuit of Happyness unfortunately, that feel-good story is becoming increasingly rare, and it's not because of lack of effort, but because, quite frankly, in America if you are rich you are afforded a whole bunch of oppurtunities that others don't have.
That is generally true. Of course most millionaires are not close to the top 1%. For instance, my mother & stepdad may be millionaires (IDK if the are or not), but it isn't like they are making that kind of money in a year.
Easier than becoming an NBA player!!!?? No way!!!! Plus look at all the other sports people could do. There's baseball, tennis, football, hockey. Surely those are viable options for tons of people. I'm so glad you brought that up
And, of course, $1 million today is worth much less than $1 million a generation ago, so most millionaires *should* be first generation by definition since it includes a larger number of people. Not related to the above, but on topic: http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2012/03/21/average-america-vs-the-one-percent/ The average annual income of the top 1 percent of the population is $717,000, compared to the average income of the rest of the population, which is around $51,000. The real disparity between the classes isn’t in income, however, but in net value: The 1 percent are worth about $8.4 million, or 70 times the worth of the lower classes. ... The Fallacy of Hard Work It’s a common belief in America that all people have the same opportunity for success as the top 1 percent. Most people consider success to be a by-product of hard work, and hard work is something that Americans are extremely familiar with. In fact, Americans have increased productivity by 80 percent since 1979; unfortunately, their income hasn’t risen accordingly, if at all.
he didn't make that up - it is a proven statistic. Of course the average millionaire also buys a 2yr old USED car. They don't watch much TV at all - but they do read several books a month. More than half never received even $1 in inheritance. 2/3 are self-employed. They live on a strict budget and can tell you how much they spent on groceries last month. They work an average of 60hrs a week. Their average taxable income is $130,000 a year.
The most important point here is the bolded part. Basically, being a millionaire hasn't been a benchmark of great success in America for quite some time and to mention them in a discussion of wealth and 1%ers is somewhat misleading. I know many millionaires. The only significant difference between them and I is that they are about 10 years older.
I was going to say this millionaire stat is irrelevant if only because of inflation. but sincerely people who throw out round stats like that without a source puzzle me.
http://www.oecd.org/tax/public-finance/chapter 5 gfg 2010.pdf Figure 5.1 is on page 185, the rest is fairly interesting as well on the topic.
First, odd that you're suggesting people "can't" do something. I'm a ******* living example that proves "can't" is bull****. Second, again, I'm not striving to be a 1%'r, just being the best and most successful that I can be. Third, your perception of what the American Dream is today is NOT my version. I still have the beauty of it and live it daily. So it's harder. I heard its getting easier to live quite comfortably without working. What are you suggesting? Tell everybody the dream is dead? That they have no choice or options? Sit on the sidelines and b**** all day? I agree the gap is widening but maybe it's because people quit believing in the dream.
you can narrow the gap by ensuring that the off-shore economy, and the derivative casino in Wall Street is regulated. Close the options on the floor for the rich to get richer with no real downside. Also, by striving to give labour the same mobility as capital, creating a fairer tax system (especially on the capital gains side) etc. etc. Monetary policy as it is currently constructed pushes money to the rich in the hopes that they will lift the poor. It's better than everybody falling down the cliff, but now is the time to realize that this intervention requires a whole new policy framework to adapt, if one wants to keep the notion of an American Dream, and social mobility alive. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/the-rich-get-richer-through-the-recovery/
Those articles are very misleading, they make it look like as if the high income individuals managed to find some sneaky loop holes that made their incomes tax free and are some how taking advantage of every one. For those so called high income no tax individuals, they are not paying any federal income tax to the US gov mainly because of 2 reasons: 1) foreign tax credits whether because they are working abroad or investing abroad. In either case, they did pay taxes... just not to the US gov. 2) Because their main income is from muni bonds, muni bonds are often tax-exempt but they are effectively "paying" their taxes because when comparing similar rated muni bonds to corporate bonds the munis have significantly lower yield and when compared to the equity market the return difference is even bigger.
Interesting. According to this theory, do I effectively pay my taxes by choosing to open up a FDIC-insured savings account or when I would have bought GSE shares, and if not, why not?
I didn't word it properly. Just trying to point out that those so called high income no tax individual did not find some sneaky magical tax loop hole that some how enable them to take advantage of everyone else. Sure they paid no income tax for their muni bond earnings, but that's in most cases off set by the significantly lower yield of muni bonds. There's a reason why only 0.8% of the so called high income individuals paid no US income tax and that most high income individuals didn't jump on this train.
