Richest 1%, will soon have more wealth than the rest of us

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/wealth-inequality/index.html

It's probably not good for the wealth of the world to be concentrated into the hands of only a few. However, on what basis can you force them to give some of it up? How much?

 

What good is being rich if you don't spend it? I'm betting that each of these people are their own micro economies and support tons and tons of people.

 

So trickle down? Be patient?

 

Lol! Reagan started trickle down. How much patience do you think we should have?

 

big wup.... they always did, and always will. I'd rather live my life than waste it worrying about what someone else has that I do not.

 

The 1% have always had more than everyone else. That's why they're the one percent.

Frankly, I don't care how much they have. It's their money and I have no right to tell them what to do with their income, just like I don't want anyone dictating where I spend mine. People need to get over their wealth envy and leave everyone else alone.

 

What's the alternative, forcibly taking it from them under the threat of imprisonment, i.e. tax the crap out of them? Why? It's their money. Why would anyone presume it belongs to someone who didn't earn it?

 

It's only been forty some odd years...let's give it another century or two to to see if the voodoo actually works.

 

The trillions that were spent on the war on poverty - how's that working out?

 

Not sure. Is all that wealth earned fairly after a certain point? You know tax havens, loopholes, government subsidies, cornering markets, insider trading, etc etc.

The other option is to just let the chips fall where they may while a tiny fraction of the population holds over half the worlds wealth.

 

How does what they have in the bank affect you at all?

If Bill Gates makes an extra 5 billion this year how will it affect you personally?

This is not about difference, it is about greed. Some people feel its unfair that they do not have what others do and want to take it for them simply because they are jealous. Perhaps if people focused more on their own lives instead of others they might be a little more happy.

 

No worry, the US has a plan to take half of it when they die.

 

Well, yeah. Better than the alternative we practiced in ancient Rome (and that still have its appeal), don't you think?

I think we're actually paying throught the nose for all that sleeping money (money placed in a fiscal paradise doesn't trickle down).

Beside, how many golden laptops with diamond-incrusted keys does a single man needs? Ten? One Hundred?

The USA were at their highest ever (in the fifties) when the rich were taxed for about 90%. It makes you think twice before according yourself a generous bonus while the customers pay more.

Now is it me or does our rich elite are being especially mediocre men? Most of them, after all, inherited their fortunes.

It's the return of monarchies, except they are not noble at all.

 

I don't think it effects me as as someone in America as much as someone in Uganda. Living in America does put you into 1% globally. I just think its pretty crazy the number of individuals controlling the most money shrinks while their wealth grows to out weigh 99.99% of us. What does it mean and how will it look ten, twenty years from now?

 

You heard about the $50 million dollar mansion Bill Gates lives in, right? Everyone of the people who built it got paid. The people that built his yacht got paid. Same for his plane. How many people got their trickle?

 

The 1% that are rich is a very small population but with that money they can buy any politician with funding to get laws into effect to suit their agenda. They also eliminate any businesses from ever being able to compete with them. Too much power in a few hands is dangerous for the general public for they no longer have a voice in what they want from their government.

Since 2000, NAFTA, tax loopholes, outsourcing, Obamacare, etc. has increased the stock that these 1% have control of. There is no trickle down when corporations have moved most of their business to other countries. There is no trickle down now that we are mandated to buy expensive health coverage. Job creation cannot occur if businesses cannot compete with rich corporations.

 

Who knows more about money - the people who managed to make billions or the people like Obama who manage to spend billions? What reason is there to trust government with your money?

 

Probably a little better than the wars for profit.

 

Good points.

The money going to campaigns is record breaking nowadays.

 

A lot of those billions made are artificial and happen because of the government, not in spite of it.

 

None. But I would think this 1% would be much less dangerous if money was removed from politics.

 

Well, if Gates' money was distributed more equally, it isn't one 50m house that would have been built, but five hundred 100k ones. Trickles better, IMO.

 

Because if it is a "TAX BREAK", it wasn't earned to start with. What makes you think a tax break is earned, when tax breaks didn't exist before? No one earns a tax break from the government. It is awarded to us. And its primary purpose was to award tax breaks for the rich to create jobs, not for overseas accounts. Did it do that? No!

 

Why would Gates need 500 houses?


Oh, wealth redistribution.


Why can't he enjoy money he created? Why should someone else enjoy money Gates created?

 

yep, the economy is not poorer, the rich just took more of the pie