[AGL] Fwd: Fw: How does it feel to be rich? Bitchn'!

[Frances Morey]

I wonder if the nitty gritty is a derivitive of the needy-greedy? This is an eye opener, especially since I doubt that everything I have in my 525 sq. ft. exceeds the $2,200 richness qualifier. Yikes. How does it feel to be poor? Can't go by me though--I feel good, like James Brown knew that I would. Maybe emotional states aren't based on bank account balances after all. I remember being with a friend visiting his neighbors in River Oaks and thinking that in Houston even the rich don't feel like they have enough money.
  Seems like Capitalism is just another way of saying, "I deserve more than the rest of you and I am not willing to share so go fuck off. 
  Thanks, Ted.
  Best,
  Frances

Ted Klein <taklein at austin.rr.com> wrote:
  From: "Ted Klein" <taklein at austin.rr.com>
To: "Ted Klein" <taklein at austin.rr.com>
Subject: Fw: How does it feel to be rich?
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 06:57:33 -0600

        Quit bellyaching!
   
  Richest Two Percent Have Half The World's  Wealth 
   
   
   
  - Total assets of only $2,200 qualifies you for the  richest half of the people in the world. 
   
  - Total assets of only $61,000 get you in the top 10%  of the world's wealthiest. Most Americans who have owned a home for more than 10  years would fall in this class with equity built up from down payment, inflation and loan amortization. 
   
  How does it feel to be  rich? 
   
  The richest  2 percent of adults in the world control more than 50 percent of its assets.  In  contrast, the poorest 50 percent control just 1 percent of the world's wealth. 
   
  In other  words, distribution of the world's wealth, stocks, bonds, real estate, and  other assets is decidedly lopsided, according to a new survey. 
   
  And the data  reflect a wide disparity between the developing world and the developed world,  says The World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United  Nations University (UNU-Wider). 
   
  Almost 90  percent of the world's wealth is concentrated in North America, Europe, and  developed Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan and Australia, says the study.  For example, North America, which has just 6 percent of the world's population,  accounts for 34 percent of the world's wealth. 
   
  "Developed  countries have pulled ahead of the rest of the world," co-author of the study  Edward N. Wolff, a professor of economics at New York University, tells The New  York Times. "With the notable exception of China and India, the third world has drifted behind." 
   
  But even in  the richest countries, wealth is also distributed unevenly. In the U.S., the top  10 percent of the population holds 70 percent of wealth. In France, the 10  percent own 61 percent of the country's wealth, 56 percent in the UK, 44 percent  in Germany, and 39 percent in Japan. 
   
  So what does  it take to be among the world's richest? Assets of $2,200 qualify for the  richest half. Those with $61,000 in assets are in the top 10 percent of the  world's wealthiest. And assets of more than $500,000 get you into the elite  branch of the richest 1 percent in the world. 
   
  If all assets  in the world were distributed evenly to the 6 billion people in the world, each  person would have about $20,500 in assets, according to the study.
   
   


 
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