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This land is my land, this land is your land... but who really owns it?
'A study just released finds that "America’s 20 wealthiest people now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American population combined, a total of 152 million people in 57 million households.”
The "facts" you present via another link to a sensationalist left-leaning website can be manipulated in any way the spin-doctors and would-be puppet masters behind it choose. It doesn't even have the gust to list the twenty individuals / households to which it supposedly refers, or how that wealth was measured, or what was the source of the data. Nor would I be willing to bet that the constantly-increasing percentage of wealth under the control of institutions is included.
Nor does it address the point that since much of the "new" wealth in the hands of those likely carefully-chosen individuals represents the common stock of enterprises founded fairly recently (e. g: Gates of Microsoft, Bezos of Amazon, Brin of Google), attempts to redistribute it would simply cause it to dry up.
The only real threat to American prosperity is the economic ignorance of the masses, and the unscrupulous pandering of a few peddlers of class-consciousness who seek to harness economic distortions in the pursuit of power and loot. Figures don't lie, (assuming some actual figures can be found) but liars always know how to figure.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 12-06-2015 at 04:57 PM..
The "facts" you present via another link to a sensationalist left-leaning website can be manipulated in any way the spin-doctors and would-be puppet masters behind it choose. It doesn't even have the gust to list the twenty individuals / households to which it supposedly refers, or how that wealth was measured. or what was the source of the data. Nor would I be willing to bet that the constantly-increasing percentage of wealth under the control of institutions is included.
So they provide links, you provide unsubstantiated denials.
Is it 20 people? Could be. I would have expected it to be more in the 80 person range to be honest.
But if you have some decent data proving the OP wrong I would be interested in seeing it. Facts trump opinions, so far all you got is opinions.
The twenty individuals cited can be identified only via two links, plus scrolling through a twenty-page report. Upon closer examination, you'll find that only seven of those individuals are heirs (from only two families -- Walton-2nd generation and Mars-3rd generation) and that the top four (Gates, Buffet, Ellison and Bezos) are entirely self-made. But why weren't these "facts" made easier to address in the original post?
The obvious answer is that any closer inspection of the data also reveals that the "simple" answer peddled by the latter-day Marxists isn't so simple.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 12-06-2015 at 05:23 PM..
The twenty individuals cited can be identified only via two links, plus scrolling through a twenty-page report. Upon closer examination, you'll find that only seven of those individuals are heirs (from only two families -- Walton and Mars) and that the top four are entirely self-made.
So now the data is ok, you object to the fact that only some inherited their money? You do know...thats not the actual topic here. The topic is...the richest 20 own more wealth then the bottom 150 million.
Once upon a time there was something called "The Gilded Age" here in America. The term was coined by Mark Twain and it referred roughly to the time period between 1870 and 1900. It was a time when a small number of American families lived in ostentatious opulent splendor - enormous palaces with many servants, bedecked with fabulous jewels, throwing sumptuous parties for their pets, buying European royal titles ... and paying no taxes. It was also a time when millions of working Americans were crowded into tenements, tiny rowhouses, sharing rooming-houses, or living in basements or attics of their employers. They had no health insurance or paid vacations.
The top 20 richest cave dwellers back in the prehistoric age probably owned most of "the wealth" too . Good luck taking it from them!
So its OK because once long ago...when we lived in caves, and had a vocabulary of 100 words or so....its great now! Got it.
Hello, 20th century!
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