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The rich get richer and the poor get poorer seems to be the proverb of the times, but just exactly how much richer did the rich get in the past 30 years?
According to a newly released report on real (inflation-adjusted) average household income in the United States by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the answer is almost three times as rich:
For the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007 (see Summary Figure 1).
The Top One-percenters also have the lionshare of the growth of total market income:
As a result of that uneven growth, the share of total market income received by the top 1 percent of the population more than doubled between 1979 and 2007, growing from about 10 percent to more than 20 percent. Without that growth at the top of the distribution, income inequality still would have increased, but not by nearly as much. The precise reasons for the rapid growth in income at the top are not well understood, though researchers have offered several potential rationales, including technical innovations that have changed the labor market for superstars (such as actors, athletes, and musicians), changes in the governance and structure of executive compensation, increases in firms’ size and complexity, and the increasing scale of financial-sector activities.
But is bemoaning the good fortunes of the super-rich the right thing to do? After all, the second part of the proverb "the poor get poorer" is actually incorrect: for the bottom 20% of the population, the average real after-tax household income increased by 18% over the past three decades. It seems like the poor also got a little bit richer.
Perhaps we should change the proverb to "the rich get richer and the poor get a little bit richer"?
Source: Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007 [PDF] by the Congressional Budget Office - via The New York Times
Making a lot of money doesn’t mean it will last. I guess some people just can’t handle the big bucks when they are famous. Boxer Mike Tyson is one of the many.
Tyson had earned over $300 million during his career as a boxer but jewelry, mansions, cars, limousines, cellphones, parties, clothing, motorcycles and Siberian tigers eventually caught up to him. In 2003 he had to file for bankruptcy, thanks to a colourful variety of debts including $13.4 million to the IRS and a $9 million divorce settlement to his ex-wife, Monica Turner. From 1995 to 1997, he spent $9 million in legal fees, $230,000 on pagers and cellphones, and $410,000 on a birthday party. In June 2002, he owed $8,100 to care for his tigers and $65,000 for limos.
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Forbes has posted their annual list of the twenty richest people in the world. Number one is not Bill Gates, nor is it Warren Buffet. Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helu edged out Gates with a net worth of $53.5 billion, which is $18 billion more than he had a year ago.
This year the World’s Billionaires have an average net worth of $3.5 billion, up $500 million in 12 months. The world has 1,011 10-figure titans, up from 793 a year ago but still shy of the record 1,125 in 2008. Of those billionaires on last year’s list, only 12% saw their fortunes decline.
U.S. billionaires still dominate the ranks–but their grip is slipping. Americans account for 40% of the world’s billionaires, down from 45% a year ago.
Bill Gates was the world’s richest person fourteen of the past fifteen years. Link -via Slashdot
Check out these 15 ludicrously expensive fireplaces. Pictured is the enormous transparent fireplace called Pictofocus, which will set yu back $21,000!
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Sure, there will always be people who have more money than you, but did you realize that some pets do, too? Here are seven dogs and seven cats that have money to burn!
Gunther IV, the German Shepherd: This dog actually received his inheritance from his father, Gunther III, a German Shepherd who received an inheritance from Karlotta Liebenstein, a German countess. Gunther IV has bought a Miami villa from Madonna and won a rare white truffle in an auction. Learn more about Gunther IV on a Web site devoted to him and those he hangs out with. He’s worth about $372 million right now, thanks to his growing trust fund.
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