The more 3rd world babies are born, the more we move up the global socioeconomic ladder.

 

How can that be? More than 18 million people in the U.S. have assets of at least $798,000. Surely. Right?

 

Net Assets

 

Here's the report itself:

http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2015-01-19/richest-1-will-own-more-all-rest-2016

 

Good news and bad news. Under the Democrat's economic plan of "giving everyone a fair shot," there will only be two classes. The good news is that the rich will expand in numbers. The bad news is that the middle class will disappear. At least they are providing the "opportunity" to get rich. :

 

Wait this has been a GOP plan since Reagan...

 

Just found out that the state of OK has reappraised our mostly worthless land out by the panhandle at somewhere north of $600k.

It's going to be a ***** paying taxes on that giant ****.

And GL trying to sell it...

Oh, and there would be a boatload of taxes, if we do sell it.

Wow, I sure feel poor for being classified as 'rich'.


Edit: I was just telling my wife that this was exactly the way that they broke the wealthy class in Brittan. By raising property taxes so high that they could not afford to keep their estates.

 

A friend’s mom had a small family farm (100 acres) near a city in Southeastern PA. There were many at one time and then developers started swallowing them up. His mom's taxes went up every year and when she was about the only one remaining, they hammered her and forced her to sell. No doubt developers were in collusion with politicians to pressure her. They made big $ building homes, the township got tons of tax revenue. The farm is now another housing development loaded with houses that pay outrageous school taxes. I guess that is progress. If that didn't get her, Obozo's latest inheritance tax proposal on the rich would have forced them to sell the farm after mom died. That's the next shoe to drop as a privilege of being land "rich" (they were actually a middle class family that had the land in the family for generations --- NOT rich).

 

Intriguing stats, but nearly useless for those of us in the US. We are well over half way there with the equity in just our modest home in the mountains that isn't even paid off yet.

I guess it does give a good perspective as too the wealth of the US population. We have around 40% of the world's 1% wealthiest.

 

I would have thought Saudi Arabia or UAE would be on the list.....Or Qatar...

 

$'s all at the top.

 

Are they converting to a certain currency? Cause just in Vancouver alone most detached homes on average are valued at $1.8 million. This is just one city in all of Canada (there is also another property value high city like Kelowna, Victoria, Toronto, etc, etc). This article shows Canada with 1.6 million 1%'ers. I know its net and a good portion of people have mortgages but the net 1%'s alone for Vancouver will eat up a huge proportion of the 1.6 million 1%'ers if what they are claiming is true. According to their calculations based on my net apparently I'm a 1%. lol

I think they need to fix the goal posts..

-------

Typical detached house values spike to $1.8-million in Vancouver
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo.../the-real-estate-beat/detached-house-prices-spike-in-vancouver/article22278878/

 

How many are paid off?

(If you'll read the article you'll see the conversions to USD)

 

I find it difficult to see myself in the same group with Bill Gates just because I own my home, a little land ans have a retirement fund. Ridiculous.

 

To the people living on $1/day (And most people thought history... our welfare class lives better than the kings of Europe a short time ago!)
you are.

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=378811

Everything is relative.

 

Corporations are a lovely way to avoid the inheritance tax.

Inheritance, or estate tax, is incredibly easy to avoid and always has been unless your assets are over 1 million. Even then, there are ways to make transfers before death that aren't taxable. Trusts come to mind.

https://www.estateplanning.com/Understanding-Estate-Taxes/

 

Trusts are not some "get out of estate tax free" card, to the next generation. Only (in the case of specific kinds of trusts) -- to one's spouse.

I sure would like to know, how you can avoid an estate tax, through corporate law. Coz I been there done that - and the IRS wasn't happy with with it's 45% (at that time) - and wanted more, all because it's right hand doesn't know what it's left is doing.

 

Wasn't saying 3rd world was better...

Just saying that someone who lives in government housing (With AC and heat available at the push of a (taxpayer provided) button) who can shop (On a EBT card) to get fresh food out of season and not spoiled meat (Which is why spices were so valued) with real medical care rather than people "Bleeding you" etc

Has a better life than a king in the 1200's, or a large amount of people today.

 

They certainly do... I find it disheartening.

 

The number of Americans with assets over ~$800k is terrifyingly small. I would believe it for the majority of the Boomers, but I'd like to think that many more of the older folks (Depression era), Gen X, etc would have at least that much in terms of net assets. Only 18m?! That's terrifying.

 

I don't think the problem is really the income, it's has more to do
with the fact that the USA is Oligarchy and not a Republic.

I still don't know if it's a good thing our "grandparents" generation is
almost gone and the wealth is in the hands of the so called generation X.

I do know this... Warren Buffet is an A-hole. :

These videos are old but still really interesting I think.

 

Wife and I qualify more than twice...yeah, rich! HAH! Wife's car is over 13 Years old, and mine is over 22 Years old. House needs paint. I have been retired since 51, though....Twelve Years and counting.

Roughly the same Dollar amount I had at Retirement, we still have. Declining purchasing power of "Nest Egg" Dollars are only partially offset by appreciation of the McMansion, so net Purchasing Power of the estate is declining approx by (present value) $10K/Year...barring a tax increase, huge health expense increases, and economic disaster, We could keep going for Centuries. BUT - it will not happen like that. I just want to depart and gift the Darling Daughter with enough to follow same path.

Still, not too shabby for someone who was truly poor at the green flag. Union stiff. Hourly wage slave.

 

You think Forbes is a liberal publication?

do you think the articles are lying about the data? Would it that lie be pretty easy to disprove?

 

It is the mean of all states of one receives all the benefits at the same time.

 

The truth shall set you free...

:xeye:

"Still, it is undeniable that for many recipients—especially long-term dependents — welfare pays more than the type of entry level job that a typical welfare recipient can expect to find. As long as this is true, many recipients are likely to choose welfare over work."

And right there, in simple language, is the core truth behind one of the more persistent problems in the US today: federal entitlement programs.

Very few people are going to choose work because it's more "virtuous", with it's attendant requirements of transportation, work clothes, child care, and other expenses, over free checks courtesy of US taxpayers.

We have created a permanent underclass that will never entirely go away. After 4-5 generations, they have become self-sustaining.

 

Saw a movie on Netflix about living on a dollar a day. After watching that I realized that I have nothing to complain about, and very little to worry about. I spend a dollar a day on my morning coffee. I feel very fortunate to have been born in the USA.

 

Most of the people in my family live in their first house still, including both grandparents.

 

We have been in our house for over 30 years but just sold and are headed for a new adventure.

 

How about the 0.000001%

The Waltons aren’t just the face of the 1%; they’re the face of the 0.000001%.

The Waltons have more wealth than 42% of American families combined.

http://walmart1percent.org/family/

 

The Waltons aren’t just the face of the 1%; they’re the face of the 0.000001%.

The Waltons have more wealth than 42% of American families combined.

http://walmart1percent.org/family/

Good for them

 

Maybe this will make more sense.

Walmart's Billionaire Waltons Give Almost None Of Own Cash To Foundation

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoc...walmarts-billionaire-waltons-give-almost-none-of-own-cash-to-family-foundation/

The central finding of this report is simple: Our analysis of 23 years’ worth of the Walton Family Foundation’s tax returns shows that Rob, Jim, Alice and Christy Walton—the second generation Walmart heirs—have contributed almost none of their personal fortune to the foundation which bears their family name.

Specifically:

- Rob and Alice Walton made zero individual contributions to the Foundation during the 23 years we examined;

- Jim Walton made a single personal contribution of $3 million to the Walton Family Foundation, more than 15 years ago;

- Rob, Jim, and Alice Walton and the family holding company they control (Walton Enterprises) have been responsible for only .13% of all contributions to the Walton Family Foundation ($6.4 million);

- Among the second generation Walton heirs, it is the in-law, Christy, who has been responsible for the largest share of contributions to the Foundation;

- The four Walmart heirs and Walton Enterprises combined have been responsible for only 1.2% of all contributions to the Walton Family Foundation.

The combined lifetime contributions of the second generation Walmart heirs and their family holding company to the Walton Family Foundation come to $58.49 million, or:

■■ About .04% of the Waltons’ net worth of $139.9 billion;
■■ About .34% of the estimated $17.1 Billion in Walmart dividends that Rob, Jim, Alice and Christy received during the years we analyzed;
■■ Less than one week’s worth of the Walmart dividends the Waltons will receive this year;
■■ Less than the estimated value of Rob Walton’s collection of vintage sports cars.

And this back to my original comparison.

The Giving Pledge: Waltons are Silent

Recently, some of the wealthiest families and individuals in the United States have made public commitments to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy. The project was started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. The commitment, known as The Giving Pledge, has taken by nearly 70 people, including the Gates, Buffett, Eli Broad, Mark Zuckerburg, and Ted Turner.

Who’s missing from the list? You guessed it, the Waltons. Nowhere on the list will you find Rob, Alice, Jim or Christy Walton. You also won’t find any of Sam Walton’s grandchildren or any of Bud Walton’s children or grandchildren. Why not? Is $93 billion in family wealth not enough to live on?

http://walmart1percent.org/the-walton-family-foundation-how-much-do-they-give-and-to-whom/#_ftn7

 

Maybe this will make more sense.

Walmart's Billionaire Waltons Give Almost None Of Own Cash To Foundation
]

SO?

I say again:
Good for them.

Perhaps they feel like enough of their money (in taxes) go to welfare, or war, or whatever.
Perhaps they just want to keep their money.
It's their money.

Good for them.

 

I had a long post here which got deleted due to a database issue. Basically, I've spent alot of time driving Google Maps Street View in places like England, France, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, etc. Looks like almost everyone in Russia still lives in depressing Soviet-era concrete apartment complexes. I wonder who the new landlords are, now that the Communists have supposedly left power.

Colombia is one of the most stratified societies in the world, and if you drive around Bogota you'll see endless blocks of squalor.

What we know here is that the family farm foreclosures were followed up by corporations, some multi-national, gobbling up the property. Owned by absentee landlords, speculators, global elite investors.

Evidently even now in some American cities the percentage of renters is like 50%+. So my worry is that we'll start looking like Russia or Colombia. Government won't enact sensible laws limiting absentee landlords, foreign ownership of property, or ordinances requiring that certain minimum percentage of residences must be homesteaded by the owner.

If you couple the lack of this sort of legislation with easy lending, the sticker prices shoot into the stratosphere. So, again, I'm worried that we'll start looking like Russia or Colombia...

 

Latest numbers I could find is that home ownerships is down to 64.9% for the head of households in the US. I imagine that it is worse in the cities. However, I think we are quite a long way from seeing the slums that are seen in other countries.

 

One thing that people often forget is that very little of these fortunes are in cash or liquid assets. Maybe they believe in investing back into the economy where people are hired and given a way to make a living.

Maybe they would rather subscribe to teaching a man to fish than giving a man a fish.

 

Or maybe they dont give a sh*t and that is their right.

 

Oxfam just released a study that found that by 2016 the 1% will control 50% of the global wealth. The other 50% will be owned overwhelmingly by the next richest bracket. The 80 wealthiest people control more wealth than the bottom 50% of the global population, that's roughly three and a half billion. The 80 wealthiest people control $1.9 trillion.