Politics Richest 1% own 82% of the world's wealth... and 100% of politicians

[A Cut Above]

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2018/01/22/richest-1-own-100-of-the-worlds-politicians/

Jokes aside, do the 1% need to own 100% of the world's wealth before our elected "leaders" grudgingly acknowledge there's a problem?

I can't see Labor or Liberal having the balls to address economic inequality in anything but token fashion, not while they're raking in donations from the top end of town & being willingly influenced by their army of lobbyists.

Maybe the best we can hope for is that the upcoming worldwide economic crash drives a stake through the heart of the Noliberalist cancer that's fueling this hopeless state of affairs.

 

[Malifice]

Was supposed to be balanced out by the Labor movement.

As in: "You 1 percent have all the money; but we 99 percent have all the votes.''

Sadly the 1 percent have managed to convince a lot of that 99 percent that [global warming is a myth, its fair that the boss earns 50 million a year to reward him for stripping jobs off thousands, its also fair that CEOs get exponential wage increases while workers struggle for a percent or two per year, Muslims/ Mexicans/ Brown people are to blame, the poor are the real problem] etc.

Dumb poor conservatives voting in the very people that make them poor in the first place.

 

[RupieDupie]

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2018/01/22/richest-1-own-100-of-the-worlds-politicians/

Jokes aside, do the 1% need to own 100% of the world's wealth before our elected "leaders" grudgingly acknowledge there's a problem?

I can't see Labor or Liberal having the balls to address economic inequality in anything but token fashion, not while they're raking in donations from the top end of town & being willingly influenced by their army of lobbyists.

Maybe the best we can hope for is that the upcoming worldwide economic crash drives a stake through the heart of the Noliberalist cancer that's fueling this hopeless state of affairs.

See the thing is, I read the article, and I don't see it as satire. When I watch Trump wipe his mouth with the back of his sleeve I'm presuming he still has some grits on the side of his mouth from a recently consumed Kentucky Fried Cambodian Child sandwich, and interestingly, when we look at the recent evolution of political leaders, politicians like Putin, Trump, Turnbull etc and we are seeing the 1%, and these guys are not getting poorer through their own leadership. Turbull's properties must be worth a mint with him propping up house prices to look after all those mum and dad investors out there trying to get ahead with a second and third property.

Edited to add - isn't Turnbull a dad investor, just trying to get ahead (not a head, his minions take care of that)

 

[RupieDupie]

A vote for Joyce is a vote for...

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-investment-mechanism-must-include-coal-power
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...s-adani-coal-row-deepens-20170413-gvkfgk.html
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...lit-on-electric-vehicles-20180123-h0musg.html

I wonder if Joyce gets any munny?

 

[Tallest]

Can't blame the 1% who have the wealth, it's the other 98% who are to blame for this mess, happy to live with their heads in the sand knowing full well no matter how hard they work within the system life is essentially worthless and irrelevant, 21st century slaves working hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.
Woman's rights.
Gay movement.
Climate change.
Flat earth.
Trump/Putin
All designed and promoted to keep division among the masses and distract from the single most dangerous thing to ever be created on Earth, the psychopathic 1%.

 

[ChampRevesby]

Wealth is generated, its not a zero sum game.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Big business are significant funders of the Libs and ALP in return for favours returned.

For example, just posted in another thread.

outsourcing contracts with the big four consulting firms - Ernst and Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte - more than doubled in value from $196.4 million in 2013-14 to $420.3 million in 2015-16.

The spending growth came as the big four firms donated more than $1.5 million to the Coalition and Labor in the same period, including $704,941 in 2015-16.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was the most generous political donor, giving nearly $500,000 to the major parties.​

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/nat...ntracts-more-than-double-20170803-gxobjh.html

Also, the unions with less than 10% representation in the workforce fund and control the ALP with preselections of candidates and policy decisions.

At the same time we have both main parties and the Greens advocating high immigration and loose rules on outsourcing jobs overseas (then bring those same workers onshore with a visa). This is why Australian wages have stagnated.

Economic inequality is not the issue but we need more transparency over our political process.

Pauline Hanson will collect votes from the voter frustration on these issues. But she's pretty stupid. Abbott's the only senior polly that has recently made the right noises about immigration, power prices, climate change, NBN, housing prices.

 

[Malifice]

Wealth is generated, its not a zero sum game.

Not really though is it?

Most wealthy people inherit wealth. Saudi oil magnates, Old money in Europe and the States, Gina Rhineheart, etc. Even top execs usually come from wealthy and connected families, and have access to Harvard and so forth to get jobs. Trump himself inherited his money. And of course; it takes money to make money.

Most people in poverty were equally born into poverty.

There are the occasional story of guys like Zuckerberg, or Gates, or Lord Sugar rising from 'rags to riches' but they're the rare individuals (just like there are stories of people losing it all). The guys the wealthy 1 percent use to convince the 99 percent to hand them more and more money and tax cuts, in pursuit of the ideal that 'One day, when I'm really wealthy, then that's fair.'

Youre not going to be really wealthy. Thats the reality. Those uber wealthy dont want you sitting at their table. Its a sham.

If everyone was a billionaire then billionaires couldn't exist. Rich people need the working and middle class in abundance in order to be rich.

It's in the wealthy persons interest to ensure wages are low and others don't make much money. Off shoring jobs, removal of the minimum wage, longer work hours, wotkchoices etc.

We only got concessions from the wealthy thanks to the trade union (Labor) movement. We'd still be child laborers working 16 hour days over pits of magma in factories if it wasn't for the labor movement.

Sadly, people seem to have forgotten this truism, in no small part to wealthy conservatives selling them shit and telling them it's a picnic bar.

 

[RupieDupie]

Wealth is generated, its not a zero sum game.

As a percentage it should be, if 10% of people own X% amount of the world’s wealth and then this drops to 9%, the people owning 100 - X% increases from 90% to 91%. That is the % of cf poor people gain a % of cf rich people when they get shafted by the cf >rich people, exactly = to the % the cf rich people lose through;
a) rape
b) torture
c) pillage
Where a), b) & c) = doing “business” = creating profit / wealth

 

[Scallop Industry Thug]

We all know how capitalists' at the top act. They will accrue as much wealth as they can. They need to be restrained. But they won't; their governments have enough plebs fooled to vote against their own interests.

Trump is the most egregious example. His legislative plan was so clearly in favour of the 1%. Taxes, healthcare all of that.

But he got a legion of those most effected by neo-liberalism to support him because he thinks Mexicans are rapists, blacks need to be shut up and political correctness.

But this goes back a long time. Starving peasants have wanted to lay their lives on the line for bullshit concepts like the nation throughout history.

 

[QuietB]

Was supposed to be balanced out by the Labor movement.

As in: "You 1 percent have all the money; but we 99 percent have all the votes.''

Sadly the 1 percent have managed to convince a lot of that 99 percent that [global warming is a myth, its fair that the boss earns 50 million a year to reward him for stripping jobs off thousands, its also fair that CEOs get exponential wage increases while workers struggle for a percent or two per year, Muslims/ Mexicans/ Brown people are to blame, the poor are the real problem] etc.

Dumb poor conservatives voting in the very people that make them poor in the first place.

Some of the dumbest campaigners I know vote conservative. Immigrant coal miners who would have been dead 30 years ago from black lung if conservatives actually did get their way.

How does this happen?

 

[Malifice]

Some of the dumbest campaigners I know vote conservative. Immigrant coal miners who would have been dead 30 years ago from black lung if conservatives actually did get their way.

How does this happen?

They don't like dole bludgers and brown people.

Just like the conservatives.

Ergo they vote against their own intrests.

Work choices was a bridge too far though.

 

[QuietB]

They don't like dole bludgers and brown people.

Just like the conservatives.

Ergo they vote against their own intrests.

Work choices was a bridge too far though.

USA is having their workchoices moment right now. Not sure they are smart enough to realise

 

[medusala]

Dumb poor conservatives voting in the very people that make them poor in the first place.

That's a really great theory Mal.

Only one problem - average conservative voter typically earns more than average labour / democrat voter.

Starving peasants have wanted to lay their lives on the line for bullshit concepts like the nation throughout history.

Yes, the world was a far better place when the Poms colonised a huge chunk of it. Finally you have come out with something logical. Kudos.

 

[King Brown]

Things are looking pretty good.

The longer view:

 

[Tallest]

Things are looking pretty good.

The longer view:

$1.90 a day, what a fantastic achievement, something to really aim for there.

 

[Power Raid]

time for a wealth tax yet?

I can't believe a wealth tax isn't a popular idea from the 99%.

 

[A Cut Above]

Wealth is generated, its not a zero sum game.

The easiest way to generate wealth in a Neoliberal system is to already have it. Grow fat doing nothing but living off investments.

Most wealth is inherited and utterly unrelated to hard work. Cleaners work bloody hard scrubbing toilets, how many billionaire toilet scrubbers you know of?

They don't like dole bludgers and brown people.

Just like the conservatives.

Ergo they vote against their own intrests.

Work choices was a bridge too far though.

The rich use the media as their mouthpiece to convince the middle-class their misfortunes are solely the blame of the lower-class, not those above them.

They perpetuate the myth that wealth can be conjured out of thin air on a planet with finite resources, that their accrual of cash has no effect on those beneath them yet every year the middle-class shrinks and number of underemployed swell.

It is the power & influence money buys in a capitalist system that is the root cause of the problem.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Abbott's the only senior polly that has recently made the right noises about immigration, power prices, climate change, NBN, housing prices.

Good satire, you should work for SNL

 

[RupieDupie]

Things are looking pretty good.

The longer view:

With this $1.90 per day, do you know whether they looked at the value of $1.90 at the time or relative to today’s value. If the former, would this chart be similar to a chart showing inflation?

 

[HairyO]

Not really though is it?

Most wealthy people inherit wealth. Saudi oil magnates, Old money in Europe and the States, Gina Rhineheart, etc. Even top execs usually come from wealthy and connected families, and have access to Harvard and so forth to get jobs. Trump himself inherited his money. And of course; it takes money to make money.

Most people in poverty were equally born into poverty.

There are the occasional story of guys like Zuckerberg, or Gates, or Lord Sugar rising from 'rags to riches' but they're the rare individuals (just like there are stories of people losing it all). The guys the wealthy 1 percent use to convince the 99 percent to hand them more and more money and tax cuts, in pursuit of the ideal that 'One day, when I'm really wealthy, then that's fair.'

Youre not going to be really wealthy. Thats the reality. Those uber wealthy dont want you sitting at their table. Its a sham.

If everyone was a billionaire then billionaires couldn't exist. Rich people need the working and middle class in abundance in order to be rich.

It's in the wealthy persons interest to ensure wages are low and others don't make much money. Off shoring jobs, removal of the minimum wage, longer work hours, wotkchoices etc.

We only got concessions from the wealthy thanks to the trade union (Labor) movement. We'd still be child laborers working 16 hour days over pits of magma in factories if it wasn't for the labor movement.

Sadly, people seem to have forgotten this truism, in no small part to wealthy conservatives selling them shit and telling them it's a picnic bar.

Bitter much?

Gina inherited a mine which had never made much money and increased her wealth 300 fold. Rose got all the money and did nothing with it.

You also seem to have ignored most of the self made billionaires on the rich list.

The labour movement has itself to blame because unions stopped caring about workers and only cared about themselves and treat workers just the same as business. What was the last big change they brought in?

 

[King Brown]

$1.90 a day, what a fantastic achievement, something to really aim for there.

Sanitation coverage in India:

Literacy in Africa (and the world):

 

[Power Raid]

Sanitation coverage in India:

Literacy in Africa (and the world):

There is no doubt the world is a better place then ever before and certainly heading in the right direction. We will see a continuing trend towards the centralisation of wealth for another decade or so but as the emerging nations become more democratic, with stronger unions, we will see this trend turn around.

I will highlight though that most people who wave their arms about the centralisation of wealth are probably those who are against increasing GST, against a wealth tax and against treaties like the TPP. All of these are important to addressing the issue.

 

[Power Raid]

The easiest way to generate wealth in a Neoliberal system is to already have it. Grow fat doing nothing but living off investments.

Most wealth is inherited and utterly unrelated to hard work. Cleaners work bloody hard scrubbing toilets, how many billionaire toilet scrubbers you know of?




The rich use the media as their mouthpiece to convince the middle-class their misfortunes are solely the blame of the lower-class, not those above them.

They perpetuate the myth that wealth can be conjured out of thin air on a planet with finite resources, that their accrual of cash has no effect on those beneath them yet every year the middle-class shrinks and number of underemployed swell.

It is the power & influence money buys in a capitalist system that is the root cause of the problem.

the second best way is arbitraging government policy, especially in emerging nations but also our fringe politics in first world nations.

oh and ftr there are very few resources that are finite based on resource economics. Our biggest problem is mobilisation of labour, barriers to entry and corruption (institutionalised or blatant like places like Indo).

 

[Seeds]

Wealth is generated, its not a zero sum game.

some wealth is generated. Much wealth associated with mining, property allocation, inheritance and government regulations are taken from others.