1 Percent ‘Literally Rich Beyond Measure’

[marmar]

via truthdig:



Wealth hidden by tax shelters and non-responses to questionnaires is so undercounted that “correcting for similar lapses in income data almost erases progress made from 1988 to 2008 in narrowing the gap between the world’s rich and poor,” Bloomberg contributor Jeanna Smialek reports a body of research has found.

The conclusion comes from work conducting separately by European Central Bank economist Philip Vermeulen, London School of Economics economist Gabriel Zucman and the World Bank. Smialek quotes Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz as saying, “We always suspected there was some low-balling of the top 1 percent… There’s a growing sense that our system is rigged and unfair.”

Smialek writes:

Failure to get a better handle on the actual amount of wealth and income means economists and policy makers don’t have a proper understanding of the degree of disparity, which represents a hurdle in addressing it. For instance, knowing that earnings and assets are more concentrated could spur support for changing the tax structure, Zucman said.

“If you don’t have a good idea of what the world looks like, it’s hard to determine what the effects of policies will be,” said Carter Price, senior mathematician at the Center for Equitable Growth in Washington, which focuses on issues of economic inequality. “Looking retrospectively, it’s hard to assess what the effects of a policy were.”

The richest of America’s rich—the top 0.1 percent with at least $20 million in net wealth—held 23.5 percent of all U.S. wealth in 2012 after adding in estimates of how much was hidden in offshore tax havens, said Zucman, a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley. That compares with his previous estimate of 21.5 percent.

Stiglitz adds that more wealth and income at the top could help explain why consumer spending has been slow to rebound since the end of the recession. Luxury retailers are doing fine, however. The Bloomberg Industries Global Luxury Goods Index, which includes companies such as Coach Inc., Hermes International and Prada Spa, has surged 254 percent since the end of the 18-month slump. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/one_percent_literally_rich_beyond_measure_20140807

[pansypoo53219]

1. they can't buy enough houses or yachts to stimulate the economy. or $30k purses.

tinkle doesn't work because the 2% will never be rich enough. they are vampires + their blood sources are dying.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. And they're going to die eventually, just like everyone else.

Steve Jobs could have hired Americans to make his Apple products, and stimulated the economy.

He died with, what, $5 billion dollars? He could have died with say, $4 billion dollars, and pumped some of his enormous wealth into the American economy by hiring American workers.

Anyway, he's just as dead as he would have been if he'd been a good guy and hired Americans instead of using Asian sweatshops, where they have nets outside the window to catch the people jumping out to kill themselves, because they can't stand being slave labor.