62 billionaires worth as much as 3.6 billion people

[Unbeliever]

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/21/the_1_economy_the_worlds_richest

A new report from Oxfam on global inequality finds the world’s richest 62 billionaires now own as much wealth as half the world. The wealth of the poorest halfâ€"3.6 billion peopleâ€"has fallen by $1 trillion since 2010. At the same time, the wealth of the world’s richest 62 people has increased by more than half a trillion dollars. Oxfam faults a global financial system that has "supercharged the age-old ability of the rich and powerful to use their position to further concentrate their wealth." The report singles out deregulation, privatization and offshore tax havens that have let trillions of dollars go untaxed. The Oxfam report is timed to coincide with the meeting of global elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. We are joined by Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.

I wonder just how much of the world's wealth is locked up in banks, no longer circulating?

What will happen when all the money is locked up in banks, and no longer circulating?

[gentle_dissident]

What will happen when all the money is locked up in banks, and no longer circulating?

We might figure out that capitalism has become a scam. We might actually have to know our neighbors.

[Unbeliever]

Capitalism - a scam!? Please tell me it ain't so!

How could that possibly be, when the top 1% of people own more wealth than the bottom 99%?

http://fortune.com/2015/01/19/the-1-will-own-more-than-the-99-by-2016-report-says/

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Since air is still free I thank my lucky stars I have a big nose.

[Baruch]

Since air is still free I thank my lucky stars I have a big nose.

Not in Beijing.  I hear they are selling canned air from LA ;-)

Unbeliever - it is well known what happens when all the money is locked up in a bank doing nothing, or one guy owns everything and starts liking geometric burial places.  But people never learn from history, recent or ancient.

Actual economic models predict, that if too much money is locked up in "finance" or "debt payments" that the economy takes a nose-dive.  Not just Public Debt but Private Debt as well.  The 2008 crash was caused by too much private debt, and the reaction was to produce too much public debt.  Like fighting a grass fire with gasoline.  If you create the right fire breaks, it actually works, but you have to really know what you are doing and have to be real careful.  Our governments don't meet that criteria ;-P  So all the money is locked up in vaults (virtual ones for virtual money) and you can't get any more credit, even if you are a good risk.  So an economy that depended on regular debt cycles ... is anemic as hell.  But that is what happens when you run your car until the gas tank is empty.  We still have a private debt problem ... some real estate is still to expensive, car loans have gotten out of hand, and student loans are thru the roof.  We have a ways to go, to clear out the brushwood ... I hope that Smokey the Bear doesn't burn for it ;-(

[aitm]

In this case, the NRA will find its partner. It's happened before when the poor cannot do anything but watch. They will use pitchforks and fire, but today the poor will have guns. Now you may think the military will support the government, but I contend that with social media on the watch, most kids are not going to start shooting into crowds when Mom and Dad and Sis and Bro and maybe Kids are watching him on the net.

[Baruch]

In this case, the NRA will find its partner. It's happened before when the poor cannot do anything but watch. They will use pitchforks and fire, but today the poor will have guns. Now you may think the military will support the government, but I contend that with social media on the watch, most kids are not going to start shooting into crowds when Mom and Dad and Sis and Bro and maybe Kids are watching him on the net.

Learn French while you still can, d'accorde!

[The Skeletal Atheist]

There's a way to cut things down to size.

[Jannabear]

And yet anytime I try to say capitalism is fucked up, I'm just dismissed for being a socialist (Which I am a socialist)
O well.

[Baruch]

And yet anytime I try to say capitalism is fucked up, I'm just dismissed for being a socialist (Which I am a socialist)
O well.

There are people here, who used to be on the picket line with J Edgar Hoover saving us from fluoridation of our water supply.  I used to be, used to be ... one of those.  But I didn't want ideology to be my epitaph.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I hear they are selling canned air from LA ;-)

I wonder how much canned South Carolina air would sell for..

I sometimes get the sinking feeling that there are people who want to make air so filthy and unbreathable that to even exist you'll have to wear an oxygen generator with special filters that will have to be replaced regularly and only certain filters will work.. Whoever gets in on the ground floor of that scheme is set forever..

[Baruch]

I wonder how much canned South Carolina air would sell for..

I sometimes get the sinking feeling that there are people who want to make air so filthy and unbreathable that to even exist you'll have to wear an oxygen generator with special filters that will have to be replaced regularly and only certain filters will work.. Whoever gets in on the ground floor of that scheme is set forever..

Keurig air filters has your back!  Not only that, the water will all be like Flint Michigan, and only Nestle will have bottled fresh water ... just ask California ;-)  This is called the "crapification of everything" model .. the Hidden Hand hard at work.

[PopeyesPappy]

Perspective

According to Bloomberg The 62 richest people in 2015 had a combined net worth of $1,556 billion. If they liquidated all their assets and distributed the money to 3.6 billion individuals each recipient would get $432.

According to the World Bank 2.1 billion people (down by 47% since 1990) are currently living on less than $3.10 a day. If those same assets were equally divided among those 2.1 billion people living on less than $3.10 a day each of them would get $749. At $3.10 a day that's 239 days or about 8 months of income.

Basically if the 62 richest people in the world gave all their money to the poorest people in the world it would feed them for about 8 months. After that they are right back where they started. The bottom line here is that if you want to bring everybody out of poverty then everyone that isn't living in poverty is going to have to a contribute significant portion of their income to the cause because redistribution of the wealth of the richest of the rich alone isn't going to cut it.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Once upon a time there were kings and queens and they were given their power from GAWD! And the funny thing is people actually believed it..  Gee, why can't we just go back to those simple times when the oligarchy was given the power from gods?

[Unbeliever]

Keurig air filters has your back!  Not only that, the water will all be like Flint Michigan, and only Nestle will have bottled fresh water ... just ask California ;-)  This is called the "crapification of everything" model .. the Hidden Hand hard at work.

I'm sure those multi-billionaires continually masturbate with the Hidden Hand...