Got $2,200? In this world, you're rich.

alaskakid

alaskakid

Active member
This is a pretty interesting article:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/StudyRevealsOverwhelmingWealthGap.aspx

This is just the first part copy pasted:

The richest 2% of the world's population owns more than half of the world's household wealth.

You

may believe you've heard this statistic before, but you haven't: For

the first time, personal wealth -- not income -- has been measured

around the world. The findings may be surprising, for what makes people

"wealthy" across the world spectrum is a relatively low bar.

The

research indicates that assets of just $2,200 per adult place a

household in the top half of the world's wealthiest. To be among the

richest 10% of adults in the world, just $61,000 in assets is needed.

If you have more than $500,000, you're part of the richest 1%, the

United Nations study says. Indeed, 37 million people now belong in that

category.

Half live on less than $2 a day.

Sure, you can

now be proud that you're rich. But take a moment to think about it, and

you'll probably come to realize that the meaning behind these numbers

is harrowing. For if it takes just a couple of thousand dollars to

qualify as rich in this world, imagine what it means to be poor. Half

the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day. The

three richest people in the world –- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates,

investor Warren Buffett and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú --

have more money than the poorest 48 nations combined.

 
yeah if you go to like egypt or something your money will go so far. You could live off a 1000 us dollars a year in egypt easy, and live pretty well too.
 
I was reading this article explaining how if you save $2,000 a year for 40 years, it will grow into $560,000
 
i wonder who will be the first to suggest that the money should be redistributed from the top 3 rich, because its "unfair" to have that much. good post
 
i just inheretied 4 g's and it still doesnt seem like that much. here its pretty much petty cash to pay for a emergency medical bill.
 
Remember though that 560 000 now will not be the same value in 40 years. 40 years ago you could get a bag of chips and a pop for 5 cents...
 
you do know that statistics are highly unreliable and incredibly slanted right? just cause someone throws around numbers doesnt mean they are right
 
I'M RICH BITCH!!!!

chappelle_james.jpg
 
I don't see this as a problem. A really high percentage of people live in huts, not because they can't afford it, but because thats how they've always done it. Do you think the tribes in africa care about money? How about the millions of people in rural china that just farm to survive and don't care about owning a TV or having air conditioning? I don't see this as a problem at all.
 
yea thats so weird. imagine like 60 years from now, kids in high school will be walking around paying 100 dollars for their lunches and lending 20 dollar bills to their friends because their friend left their wallet with 900 dollars at home.
 
haha where do you think egypt is?

and that last statistic is pretty unbelievable. 3 people have more money than 48 countries? jesus christ.
 
um idk if egypt is a suffice example shit is actually not as cheap as you'd think there, but that may be cuz i was jsut getting tourism stuff.

$1000 = 5500egyptian pounds. on average you could expect to pay about 15-20 egypt lbs for a couple bananas and a couple oranges. so theres some info for ya
 
What are the percentages for the riches 10% in the US? In the "first world" countries? Its not surprising its so low considering there are billions of people in places like India where most people live on nothing.
 
Reminds me of the Pareto Principle - (The 80/20 rule) has been found to apply in many many scenarios

i.e 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your clients etc etc
 
yeah in school we did this activity about how the top 10 percent of the wealthiest people in the USA make up for 70 percent of the total economy. fucked up.
 
it has been, dw hasllets (sp) said we should abolish inheritance. fuck with that. these people work hard for their money
 
yah now you see why skiing in argentina all summer is such a good idea...if you can afford the plane ticket to get down there
 
I actually agree with you here.

I also think it's a bit ridiculous to compare everything to American dollars when there's obviously a huge difference in the value of currency elsewhere..
 
Ya i'm sure all the people in africa with AIDs love the fact that they can't afford the health care and medication, and i'm sure the 26,500-30,000 children that die each day due to poverty REALLY don't care about having money.

Don't be so fucking stupid as to think it's about having a TV or air conditioning.

 
Yeah thats a really good point, theres a lot of ways to measure wealth, even in the U.S. there are groups that just live thier lives and dont worry about shelling out for the flatscreen tv's (amish for example).

still a crazy how those numbers pan out though.
 
damn, good post

my economics teacher said that if you want to be in this top 5%or whatever (millionaire) all you have to do is put $17 a day away into a trust fund or something (the one with stocks) starting when youre 21 and by the time you retire (60) you'll be a millionaire. I dont know if he's right or just crazy but i cant see that happening with todays economy. He is legitamitely the craziest guy ive ever known but whatever
 
Are you serious? it's a good point?

You are failing to recognize that people are so poor that they can't afford shit like clean drinking water, or basic sanitation. A TV is no where near their reality, but that doesn't mean that poverty is killing them.

[*]Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.

[*]Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.

[*]Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea

[*]Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.

[*]For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:

  • 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
  • 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
  • 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

  • 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
  • 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

All this is POVERTY related, we're not talking TV and shit, we're talking about basic human needs. Stop being so blatantly ignorant
 
Our world (as far as we're concerned) is a closed system. There's only so much to go around, so for everything you gain, somebody, or a group of people, loose it. We're very selfish here in North America, and I'm no better than anyone else. now I don't wanna sound like I don't believe individuals can make a difference, but it's going to take a large scale movement if anything is to change, that's where the individuals come in, we have to make this happen
 
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