The Global Wealth Pyramid

[TBF]

For those who don't understand the protests in the middle east, europe, or occupy here in the US, this should enlighten:

The world economy may still be in the doldrums, but global wealth continues to grow, hitting an all-time high this year of $231 trillion, according to a new global wealth report from Credit Suisse.

And more than ever, that figure is concentrated at the top of the pile. A mere 0.5% of the world's population owns an eye-popping 38.5% of its total wealth.

http://www.komonews.com/news/va?vaid=2803f6f9766932cd4ff4cf4f20a59ae0

[rhett o rick]

1. I dont see any way this trend wont continue. nm

[mojowork_n]

2. The number's may be right, but the graphic is horrible.

The pyramid only shows the population distribution.

The important information -- that 67.6 percent of population owns 3.3 percent of the wealth, while the top 0.5 percent owns
38.5 -- has no visual, graphic representation. You have to dig for the numbers on the right side of the pyramid.

As a way to understand this disproportionate distribution, I think the "L-Curve" is more helpful, although the data is
only mapped according to U.S. numbers:

http://www.lcurve.org/

The US population is represented along the length of {a 100 yard} football field, arranged in order of income.

Median US family income (the family at the 50 yard line) is ~$40,000 (a stack of $100 bills 1.6 inches high.)

--The family on the 95 yard line earns about $100,000 per year, a stack of $100 bills about 4 inches high.

--At the 99 yard line the income is about $300,000, a stack of $100 bills about a foot high.

--The curve reaches $1 million (a 40 inch high stack of $100 bills) one foot from the goal line.

The very highest stacks of bills, at the one or two inch line, are miles high.

[sam11111]

3. how many miles? my calculation yrs back used one dollar bills..to the moon twice IIRC

[mojowork_n]

5. It could be inflation, but these are Benjamin's, not singles. n/t

[TBF]

4. It's the top of the pyramid (the 35%) - hard to miss

but with that said I like the L curve as well and thank you for bringing that up. With the L curve as well you've got to have the accompanying text to know what you are looking at. Many times I put these graphics into an OP so I can easily save them in my Journal for future use. The inequality is amazing - and the L curve would be a great graphic to put on protest signs for example.

L Curve with text:



The US population is represented along the length of the football field, arranged in order of income.

Median US family income (the family at the 50 yard line) is ~$40,000 (a stack of $100 bills 1.6 inches high.)

--The family on the 95 yard line earns about $100,000 per year, a stack of $100 bills about 4 inches high.

--At the 99 yard line the income is about $300,000, a stack of $100 bills about a foot high.

--The curve reaches $1 million (a 40 inch high stack of $100 bills) one foot from the goal line.

--From there it keeps going up...it goes up 50 km (~30 miles) on this scale!

[mojowork_n]

6. Here's a cheesy video.

There have been some interesting discussions on the board about this.

This is from one of the shorter ones:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x421323

But a site search for L-Curve will show you the rest. It's hard to get a grasp of.

I've thought the L-Curve should be shown best over time, as some sort of precipitation
of 100 dollar bills, to show everyone's annual income through a 12 month progression.

Then you'd see the gradual increase of more bills piling up nearer to the goal line,
like big flakes falling in a cartoon animation, with the stratospheric rise at the limit.

[TBF]

7. Interesting comment about it being income vs. net worth -

that is a really good comment. These charts are bad enough when they show the inequality in income - but when you get to net worth it has to be even more staggering.

[vanlassie]

12. My son said that, years ago. He's a graphic animator- but too busy to do it!

[CrispyQ]

8. Someone posted this graphic a few weeks ago.

Look at that tiny slice of green on the left & how much bigger it is on the right. Damn!

[mojowork_n]

9. That's very clear, all the numbers are mapped to colors and different sized boxes..

But I'd still like to see one of those slow, stop-film animations.

Like what they used to film "Gumby," or show how a stalk of corn grows
from a small seedling.

That way time could be included in the visual, in full 3-D, to give
some dramatic effect and impact to the changes. Since about 1980, or
even before.

[TBF]

10. Nice! And the worldwide graphic would be similar -

this is what world-wide capitalism has given us.

[blindpig]

11. Nice

Wealth is the real metric.

k&r

[mojowork_n]

13. Might be too late for anyone to see it, but this one

was posted today in another thread:

[defendandprotect]

14. kr