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Maybe you should read the methodology. The 10's are what most people consider self made, and they are a trivial 8% of the richest. And by this they mean to convince us that "look! Social mobility is possible!" Bwahahaa.
From your link:
Quote:
If we take a broader look, we can see that the percentage of inherited fortunes, including those that have grown substantially at the hands of later generations, represented the majority of the Forbes 400.
They name only 2 of the 10's, Soros, and Oprah Winfrey. # 16, and #211 I think? Apparently none are in the top 10? And who are the others? Why didnt they show all the data so that we could see general trends instead of just the extreme edges?
It does not have detailed information, or a good methodology.
As for why does all of this matter? Very simply put we're seeing this money get increasingly involved with our politics to the point where its distorting it severely. This means more corruption,and less Democratic representation. We are also seeing extreme wealth gaps damage our society. And that's pretty much what is expected from the inequality level we have now. The thing is....its just going to keep getting worse as the wealth gap continues. And eventually people will use the power of the vote to elect our own US version of Chavez. A complete disaster. And no, none of the current blokes running come close, but take a look at the popular fringes, and realize that maybe the 2020 election could go to someone even more extreme then Sanders or Trump.
Its a serious danger to our society, and functioning government.
Pfizer just sold themselves to the Irish, so that hundreds of million, and eventually billions of future Pfizer earnings will be untaxable by the greedy U.S. General Electric, no stranger to maneuvering around IRS worksheets just tried to sell themselves to Sweden to accomplish the same thing as Pfizer. They have been denied (for now). If America's Middle Class is o.k. with running a First World Nuclear Superpower on the earnings of Target cashiers, who am I. But I can observe that in the long term such shortsightedness will fail. When America is no longer livable the 1% will simply live full time in the European and South American cities they already live in part time (as a tax dodge). What will the rest of us do?
Bingo.
Thing is the .1% will only move their business to foreign countries because those nice, prosperous social democracies with super low corporate taxes have eye-wateringly high personal income taxes. America is a fantastic place for the super wealthy to have citizenship compared to Sweden, et al simply because it's cheap to be rich here.
Anyway, giant disparities in wealth are bad for both social order and the economy. We lived that prior to the New Deal, and we see how it plays out in much Latin America and Africa. I mean do we want to use Mexico and Nigeria as economic models?
Trickle down has NOT worked. We have the highest poverty level of developed countries.
We have a serious homeless issue, single moms in the street. People drowning in debt.
So... why do we need to accept and coddle illegal aliens and refugees the DHS says we cannot even vet effectively?
Pfizer just sold themselves to the Irish, so that hundreds of million, and eventually billions of future Pfizer earnings will be untaxable by the greedy U.S. General Electric, no stranger to maneuvering around IRS worksheets just tried to sell themselves to Sweden to accomplish the same thing as Pfizer. They have been denied (for now). If America's Middle Class is o.k. with running a First World Nuclear Superpower on the earnings of Target cashiers, who am I. But I can observe that in the long term such shortsightedness will fail. When America is no longer livable the 1% will simply live full time in the European and South American cities they already live in part time (as a tax dodge). What will the rest of us do?
Pfizer paid their taxes on revenues earned in the US.
They will also continue to pay taxes on revenues earned in the US after this merger/buyout.
They left because the US taxes global income...that is income NOT earned in the US.
With them being in Ireland now that money they can bring that money "home" to their new home and reinvest it in R&D in their new home country.
The USG is too greedy. They aren't happy enough taxing US revenue but want taxes from revenue earned in other countries as well.
Both companies and people are leaving the US because of that reason.
Trickle down has NOT worked. We have the highest poverty level of developed countries.
We have a serious homeless issue, single moms in the street. People drowning in debt. The rich have kept it all to themselves.
We also have open borders and very generous welfare programs.
Poor all over the world want to come and live here because we have the richest poor in the world.
Most means more than 1/2 but I'm sure you knew that.
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