"the rich get richer"

[marbles]

billionaire update

Just an FYI for those that have been programmed all your lives to say "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Now, I'm sure I'll get some sort of charts and graphs from the left on this one, but there are some indisputable facts in this article.

1. There are fewer billionaires now than there were last year (or the prior year, or the year before that).

2. The richest man in the world (and also the largest charitable contributor) has less than half as much money as he had 5 years ago.

3. For the first time in history, a black woman is a billionaire. And no, she wasn't born rich.

Granted, these are small snapshots of the big picture, but I just think this side of the story occasionally has to be pointed out. Flame away.

[brad]

if u think bill gates is richest man in world youre totally naive.

[marbles]

Fair enough. Will you accept the richest man in capitalist America?

[brad]

probably not simply becuase all the old wealthy have their money in, for example, trusts.

david rockefeller testified before the US senate and stated that he paid no (personal) income tax. (for that very reason.)

[adios]

What is the value of their assets? It would seem hard to believe that they're worth more than what Gates has after taxes given the value of his MSFT stock. I would think that Gates pays the the long term capital gains tax on stock he sells which he does constantly. However, off the top of my head I might believe that someone in the royal Saudi family might be the richest due to all the in the ground oil assets in Saudi Arabia. Not sure though.

[brad]

since things like trusts are private, its hard to know the value or composition of assets.

but how much, for example (although not owned by one individual or thing), is a central bank worth? even if say out of its (private) 100 shares of stock the majority stockholder only owns 8 or 10 shares, how much is that worth?

[John Ho]

He is the richest. The Rockefellers can't touch him. It's been split up in too many directions.

The Saudis might have a case but I don't think so...there are too many of them and the fact that America is the economic giant of the world and Gates is on top of the heap by a large margin give him the clear edge.

[brad]

very informative post.

[adios]

If you measure the populations wealth in the USA by the personal distribution of income there is no doubt that over the last 20 years (since Reagan) that the top income earning households are making a bigger share of the available income. The statistics are given such that the households are broken up into quintiles (groups of 20% of the income producers). The top income producing quintile I believe is making 52% of the household income of the USA up from 48% when Reagan took office. I'm quoting those numbers from memory so I'll have to double check them. So I would say that indeed the rich are getting richer. One of the reason's is that transfer payments have declined significantly for the disenfranchised. What it all means is that over the last 20 years the USA has moved more in the direction of pure capitalism than socialism. As far as Gates's asset values declining, the stock market was simply much higher so his assets were valued higher. Markets fluctuate a lot and it's clear now that the stock market reached a multi-year high which won't be seen again anytime soon. As far as a black woman becoming a billionaire, I think it says something very positive about the opportunities available here to make money.

[marbles]

"the top income earning households are making a bigger share of the available income."

I agree with that sentence. Note that you didn't say the wealthiest households are making a bigger share...

Top income-producers tend to have education and experience on their side, and thus can make even more in subsequent years. Sounds reasonable to me; work harder, bring home more dough.

"What it all means is that over the last 20 years the USA has moved more in the direction of pure capitalism than socialism."
--I don't have a problem with that.

"As far as a black woman becoming a billionaire, I think it says something very positive about the opportunities available here to make money."
--Bingo.