World's 1st Trillionaire by 2034

[neverfstop]

Davos is in session, so all the uber-wealthy are gathering....

So instead of debating "Should billionaires exist?" we can move onto "Should trillionaires exist?" <eye roll>

apnews.com/article/income-inequality-billionaires-davos-85baf23e9a2a7d4d94da5aca11f3ca5e 

I'm so sick of the income inequality and poverty that we are willing to tolerate and legislate as policy choices.   Bring on the wealth tax!

Also, World's richest five men double fortune since 2020  

www.cnn.com/2024/01/14/economy/oxfam-report-wealth-davos-forum/index.html

[neverfstop]

More depressing stats finance.yahoo.com/news/wealthiest-10-americans-own-93-033623827.html

The top 10% of Americans held 93% of all stocks, the highest level ever recorded.

Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks in the third quarter of 2023.

[AJL]

Why? Why is the accumulation of this much money necessary? Why aren't we taxing billionaires at 90%? This is just absolutely unfathomable to me. A trillion dollars may as well be eleventy-gajillion.

[gretchenindisguise]

We were watching a documentary on dinosaurs today and I was fantasizing about how good they had it. This reinforces my belief.

So that’s my current emotional state.

[basilosaurus]

A headline just came through my feed if Australia's richest getting an extra 1.5M every hour. Why?!

It's truly obscene

[penguingrrl]

It’s absolutely disgusting. Income inequality is worse now than it was in the gilded age, which is really saying something.

[wawa]

Jan 15, 2024 15:52:03 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

It’s absolutely disgusting. Income inequality is worse now than it was in the gilded age, which is really saying something.

right?  a family tree branch of one of of Gilded Age Robber barons lives in my area and is...extremely rich. Still profiting from business decisions made in that time frame.
Those gilded age riches persisted in various forms TO NOW, 5 generations later, and still are dwarfed by this shit.  it's gross.  

[penguingrrl]

Jan 15, 2024 16:13:49 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jan 15, 2024 15:52:03 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

It’s absolutely disgusting. Income inequality is worse now than it was in the gilded age, which is really saying something.

right?  a family tree branch of one of of Gilded Age Robber barons lives in my area and is...extremely rich. Still profiting from business decisions made in that time frame.
Those gilded age riches persisted in various forms TO NOW, 5 generations later, and still are dwarfed by this shit.  it's gross.  

It’s inconceivable, they’re at a point where money literally grows on trees while people are starving and without housing because even working full time isn’t enough to secure human basic needs.

[Patsy Baloney]

When we eating these folks? I’ve been ironing the nice napkins in preparation for so long.

[VillainV]

It’s disgusting.

[neverfstop]

I think we should raise corporate taxes, institute a wealth tax (just take the Forbes 100 list) and ask for 5%.

If you haven't ready Poverty, by America, it is a really good read.
www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61358638

[ellipses84]

I heard a social media snippet of a podcast with Gretchen Morgenson talking about her book, These are the Plunderers and immediately put it on hold at the library.

Maybe it’s my algorithms but in seeing way more content about the wealth gap in the U.S., taxation (eating 😆) the rich, unions, etc. One where an artist was commissioned for a mural in SF but after finding out it was funded by Billionaires she included a quote something like “Being a billionaire is a moral failure” (not sure if that was the exact quote).

I wish I had the link but there was a study where they asked people how they think wealth is distributed in the U.S., how they think it should be fairly distributed and then compared how it’s actually distributed. The fair was what you’d think - pretty evenly distributed between income groups. What people guessed Actual distribution was, was less fair. Actual distribution was significantly worse than what people thought it was, where the top 1% had more than what people thought the top 20% had.

[mrsukyankee]

I'm quite certain that the UK has one of, if not the, highest wealth gap of Europe, though it's less than in the US. Then again, the UK's government is trying their hardest to get to US level.

[bee20]

The articles I'm seeing this week are all about how the US has the most millionaires (in total net worth) of any country, far outpacing the next few countries on the list (Switzerland, China). It includes property, which obviously took a jump after covid, and another article I can't find now said the average age these people hit $1M is 49.

That seems wealthy, but a trillion vs a million is like a million vs $1.  It's such a huge amount of money that could never be spent in a lifetime. 

[neverfstop]

Jan 16, 2024 0:02:06 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

I wish I had the link but there was a study where they asked people how they think wealth is distributed in the U.S., how they think it should be fairly distributed and then compared how it’s actually distributed. The fair was what you’d think - pretty evenly distributed between income groups. What people guessed Actual distribution was, was less fair. Actual distribution was significantly worse than what people thought it was, where the top 1% had more than what people thought the top 20% had.

I think this is the general research you are looking for, but it's very powerful.

jeremiahstanghini.com/2013/03/06/perception-vs-reality-revisiting-wealth-inequality-in-america/ 

[basilosaurus]

I just got an article in my needs feed about the wealthiest Australians (it often thinks I'm in Australia) make $1M usd every single hour. That's just obscene. And it's much worse in the US I'm sure.

Who's bringing the hot sauce?

[ellipses84]

Jan 16, 2024 6:50:15 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Jan 16, 2024 0:02:06 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

I wish I had the link but there was a study where they asked people how they think wealth is distributed in the U.S., how they think it should be fairly distributed and then compared how it’s actually distributed. The fair was what you’d think - pretty evenly distributed between income groups. What people guessed Actual distribution was, was less fair. Actual distribution was significantly worse than what people thought it was, where the top 1% had more than what people thought the top 20% had.

I think this is the general research you are looking for, but it's very powerful.

jeremiahstanghini.com/2013/03/06/perception-vs-reality-revisiting-wealth-inequality-in-america/ 

Yes it was that one, thank you! If the data is from 2011, I’d like to see a chart for now. I’ve also seen some charts with wealth over time, showing average Americans peaked and we are spiraling back down to the gilded age.

[meanie]

Ugh gross. I ran off to Google because I had the thought that the wealth gap now might be comparable to ancient times....turns out it's worse! Why aren't we overthrowing the empire yet?

[BlondeSpiders]

I think the French had it right.