Just 1% of the worlds population own 50% of worlds wealth

[TerryO]

This to me is scary reading, most everyone in Australia falls into the top 10% of the worlds wealthiest people. Many baby boomers would easily fall within the top 1% believe it or not.

Why scary? How can there be so much inequality in living standards and education without there eventually being some sort of backlash from those with so little?

I guess we could always tell the masses with nothing to eat cake.

Have a read of the link below to find out what it takes to be a 1 percenter.

Richest 1 per cent own half the world's wealth: report (http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/richest-1-per-cent-own-half-the-worlds-wealth-report-20151015-gkaide.html)

[DoubleChevron]

This to me is scary reading, most everyone in Australia falls into the top 10% of the worlds wealthiest people. Many baby boomers would easily fall within the top 1% believe it or not.

Why scary? How can there be so much inequality in living standards and education without there eventually being some sort of backlash from those with so little?

I guess we could always tell the masses with nothing to eat cake.

Have a read of the link below to find out what it takes to be a 1 percenter.

Richest 1 per cent own half the world's wealth: report (http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/richest-1-per-cent-own-half-the-worlds-wealth-report-20151015-gkaide.html)

Half of household wealth.... The word "househould" makes it sound like we are wealthy......

[rocmic]

What I found interesting is that a net worth of $68,000 puts you in the top 10% in the world. Which makes a lot of us very wealthy!!
Cheers
Mike

[DiscoMick]

I appear to be in the top 7%, which is surprising.
Just shows how unequal the world is. Its no wonder so many so-called 'economic migrants' want to move to better places. Hard to blame them, really.

[Eevo]

i dont feel wealthy

[Ausfree]

i dont feel wealthy

Me either!!:(

[ramblingboy42]

i dont feel wealthy

....yes , and being gen X , you're not getting your inheritance:):p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p

[cripesamighty]

Have a look at this video for a visual of just how messed up wealth distribution is in the USA (and hence the rest of the world too).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

[Eevo]

Have a look at this video for a visual of just how messed up wealth distribution is in the USA (and hence the rest of the world too).


why is it messed up?
who says life is meant to be fair

[mikehzz]

Only 4.5 billion of the 7 billion people on Earth have access to flushing toilets. Of the 2.5 billion who don't have proper sanitation, 1.1 billion defecate in the open, according to the UN.
I've got 3 toilets...feeling pretty darn rich and well off today. It's getting hard to choose which one I'll use next??? It makes my life so complicated. :confused:

[weeds]

Aussies don't really know how lucky we really are......

But in saying that society wouldn't operate if we were all equal.

[Mick_Marsh]

Aussies don't really know how lucky we really are......
New Zealanders do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYvMeT2GC14

[Rok_Dr]

Yes though we don't feel particularly wealthy we are at the top by world standards.

Having lived and worked in a number of impovished developing nations has driven home this fact and made me so appreciative of living in Australia.

To illustrate... I was working in Niger in 2008 and the following true story was told to me. Mother and daughter both got malaria, but the family could only afford one course of drugs costing just $2. Mother was still of child bearing age and worked so she got the drugs and the daughter died.

Yes we are indeed lucky and wealthy.

Cheers

Steve

[3toes]

Was listening to a BBC radio 4 program where they do maths and statics. This came up and was interesting to hear them tear it apart due to the information used to base the report on not being reliable. Seems that while the world is still not equal (did not need a maths genius to tell me that one) is more equal now than had ever been.

[DiscoMick]

Only 4.5 billion of the 7 billion people on Earth have access to flushing toilets. Of the 2.5 billion who don't have proper sanitation, 1.1 billion defecate in the open, according to the UN.
I've got 3 toilets...feeling pretty darn rich and well off today. It's getting hard to choose which one I'll use next??? It makes my life so complicated. :confused:

Yes, I also have a choice of three toilets (in 2 houses) so I'm apparently also wealthy.
It's true though - the poorest Aussie is rich by world standards. Our former refugee friends live in pretty ordinary houses here by Aussie standards, but to them they are luxury compared with a bamboo hut with a banana leaf roof. Just being able to go to a doctor when you're sick is wealth. Having a fridge to keep food in is wealth. Having enough beds for everyone in the family is wealth. Being able to afford to buy a car is great riches, even if it is an old Camry or Tarago.
We are very fortunate in this country, which is why people who whinge about life in Australia annoy me. They have no idea what it's really like for most people in the world.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

[PAT303]

I hate the way people think our lifestyle is all down to luck,luck my arse,we work for it.We pay tax,many of us nearly half our pay which is used to fund the medical system,Police,roads,education etc and that is not luck,we also don't shoot one another or set off car bombs if the other side wins an election and unlike that other ''biggest democracy in the world'' we don't have bought pollies,lastly we don't have the scourge of religion hanging over us,the last point is an important one. Pat

[austastar]

Hi,
Pehaps a year working in a third world country should be a part of our education?
It opened my eyes to Australia's benefits.
Cheers

[PAT303]

My father who is 79 was born at home,a home that had a dirt floor,I'm 43 and our family home as a child didn't have a flushing toilet,a telephone and had only one bathroom for me,my parents,two brothers and eight sisters.I don't need to live in a third world country to educate me on how ''lucky'' I am. Pat

[Eevo]

i didnt have a Nintendo as a kid. :(

[scarry]

i didnt have a Nintendo as a kid. :(

We didn't have a tele for a long time,then we did get a small black and white one.:)

We had one of the first two door fridges,it lasted over 30yrs,and a big noisy Simpson auto washer eventually turned up as well.

We must have been wealthy...not.:(

Oh and a Series one and a Rover 75.

And two german short haired pointers

Maybe we were just lucky;):D

[numpty]

I hate the way people think our lifestyle is all down to luck,luck my arse,we work for it.We pay tax,many of us nearly half our pay which is used to fund the medical system,Police,roads,education etc and that is not luck,we also don't shoot one another or set off car bombs if the other side wins an election and unlike that other ''biggest democracy in the world'' we don't have bought pollies,lastly we don't have the scourge of religion hanging over us,the last point is an important one. Pat

No one pays nearly half their pay in tax!

Maybe you pay "nearly half" of a "portion" of your earnings in tax. That's why there are scaled tax rates, whether they are fair or not.

I too grew up in a family home with an outside dunny and one bathroom between 7 of us. I am now retired and consider myself "fortunate" not lucky :) and I have nowhere near what "experts" think is an "adequate"amount to earn a pension from.

[PAT303]

46 cents in the dollar plus medicare surcharge plus not being eligible for any benefits in any way,so yes I would call it very close to half my pay.I do live in a safe country and I'm free to go anywhere I like but it's because we made it that way,luck had nothing to do with it. Pat

[AndyG]

Woohoo top 1%
30 years of working my arse off,
No vices except alcohol, women, boats and land Rovers :angel:

[simmo]

46 cents ++, in the dollar for a high salary earner, Plus 10 % GST on most of whats left. that's close enough to 50% for me, though I'm not an accountant. But its better than it used to be, 67c in the dollar once. Having said that the Australian taxation system probably created more millionaires than it stopped, by encouraging people to spend money on investments rather than give it to the government. :D.

Australia is still the lucky country IMV, and as said earlier a lot of our good fortune is due to hard work. But we are blessed with a huge country full of natural resources and good farmland, and a relatively small population, and we have a good, ( & very expensive) government system, separate from religion.

But we need to keep focused on work ethic to stay lucky, and not develop the nanny mentality where its always someone elses job to look after us and our family. The worrying thing for me is the "level playing field", its a sham, if its a level playing field how come america has sugar and beef quotas?. Whats level about people is asia working for $ 200- 400 dollars a month, 6 days a week.

We buy everything from overseas, what will our children do for jobs? Join the "service industries"? Servicing who? if no one has a job so they can pay for "services".


We spend some time in Asia from the not so well developed, ( Vietnam, Malaysia) to the advanced (Korea, Singapore )etc, and the interesting thing for me is "postcode pricing", the same consumer items can be bought in all those countries, and Australia. There's nowhere in the region where they are more expensive than in Australia. ( cars excepted in some countries due to very high taxes to control capital outflow). In some countries the same goods are less than half price. Toiletries, white goods, car care products, sauces, motorscooters. In Korea and Singapore, its' not unusual to see Australian wines on the shelves the same price or cheaper than in Aussie.

I'm no accountant, but something doesn't add up there. :confused:

[bob10]

New Zealanders do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYvMeT2GC14


Good one Bro',


https://youtu.be/gkEe2sOFpZg




https://youtu.be/1Vwo58MfwDs

[bob10]

And I think we can be sure the top 1% do not drive defenders, so here's to the rest.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[AndyG]

46 cents in the dollar plus medicare surcharge plus not being eligible for any benefits in any way,so yes I would call it very close to half my pay.I do live in a safe country and I'm free to go anywhere I like but it's because we made it that way,luck had nothing to do with it. Pat

You forgot the gst tax, so your over 50%

The fact a pension / welfare exists show how lucky we are
Come to Png, I will show you poverty

[bob10]

On a serious note, the Oakey beef processing plant on the Darling Downs wants to double its production taking the work force from 750 to 1300. Oakey beefs Japanese owners are preparing to invest $60 million on the project. They want the federal & State Governments to stump up $ 2.5 million each - to reopen the railway sidings at Oakey, to enable trains to deliver there and load up with packaged meat to take to Brisbane for export.


This cost would also include improvements at several locations on the rail corridor- Charleville , Morven, & Roma- to enable cattle to be loaded on trains between Quilpie & Oakey. Mr Pat Gleeson says " The upgrade would also allow Oakey beef to load packaged meat on to trains to the Port of Brisbane for export." The lucky country? Perhaps for those of us old timers. The young ones in this country? As Oaky beef general manager says " The government says they want jobs, we can give them jobs" We should watch this closely.

[numpty]

46 cents in the dollar plus medicare surcharge plus not being eligible for any benefits in any way,so yes I would call it very close to half my pay.I do live in a safe country and I'm free to go anywhere I like but it's because we made it that way,luck had nothing to do with it. Pat

https://atotaxrates.info/individual-tax-rates-resident/ato-tax-rates-2016/

Amazes me how so many people are under such a misapprehension.

47 cents in the dollar does not take effect until your earnings pass $180000. ;)

[DiscoMick]

Isn't the average actual tax paid about 30%?

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

[AndyG]

Where is the misapprehension, some people do pay 47% + + + .

And a lot of people go through life making no effective contribution to Treasury and then go on the pension. And a minority pay the majority of income tax.
I'm not making a value judgement, rather stating a fact.

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/no-the-rich-dont-pay-a-fair-share-of-tax-they-pay-all-of-it/story-e6frgd0x-1226841174461)

Only the top fifth of households ranked by their income - those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year in the financial year ending June 2012 - pay anything into the system net of the value of social security in cash and kind received, according to data from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of household income.

[AndyG]

The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed, but a social worker finds the shivering grasshopper, calls a press conference and demands to know why the squirrel should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate, like the grasshopper, are cold and starving.

The BBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper; with cuts to a video of the squirrel in his comfortable warm home with a table heavily laden with food.

The British press inform people that they should be ashamed that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so, while others have plenty.

The Labour Party, Greenpeace, Animal Rights and The newly created Grasshopper Action Group demonstrate in front of the squirrel's house. The BBC, interrupting a cultural festival special from Notting Hill with breaking news, broadcasts a multi-cultural choir singing 'We shall overcome'.

Some champagne socialist rants in an interview that the squirrel got rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the squirrel to make him pay his 'fair share'

In response to pressure from the media, the Government drafts the "Economic Equity and Grasshopper anti Discrimination Act", retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The squirrel's taxes are reassessed.

He is taken to court and fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as builders for the work he was doing on his home and an additional fine for contempt when he told the court the grasshopper did not want to work.

The grasshopper is provided with free housing, financial aid to furnish it and an account with a local taxi firm to ensure he can be socially mobile. The squirrel's food is seized and re distributed to the more needy members of society, in this case the grasshopper.

Without enough money to buy more food, to pay the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, the squirrel has to downsize and start building a new home.

The local authority takes over his old home and utilises it as a temporary home for asylum seeking cats who had hijacked a plane to get to Britain as they had to share their country of origin with mice. On arrival they tried to blow up the airport because of Britain 's apparent love of dogs.

The cats are arrested for the international offence of hijacking and attempted bombing but are immediately released because the police fed them pilchards instead of salmon whilst in custody. Initial moves to return them to their own country were abandoned, because it was feared they would be killed by the mice.

The cats devise and start a scam to obtain money from people's credit cards.

A "hard-hitting" BBC documentary special shows the grasshopper finishing up the last of the squirrel's food, though spring is still weeks away, while the house he is in crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain it. He is shown to be taking drugs. Inadequate government funding is blamed for the grasshoppers' drug 'illness'.

The cats seek recompense in the British courts for their treatment since arrival in the UK.

The grasshopper gets arrested for stabbing an old dog during a burglary to get money for his drugs habit. He is imprisoned but released immediately because he has been in custody for a few weeks. He is placed in the care of the probation service to monitor and supervise him.. Within a few weeks he has killed a guinea pig in a botched robbery.

A commission of enquiry into the whole affair is set up. It eventually costs ten million pounds and states the obvious.

Additional money is put into funding a drug rehabilitation scheme for grasshoppers and legal aid for lawyers representing asylum seekers is increased.

The government praises the asylum-seeking cats for enriching Britain's multicultural diversity, but the nation's dogs are criticised for failing to befriend the cats.

The grasshopper dies of a drug overdose. The usual sections of the press blame it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity and his traumatic experience of prison. They call for a government minister to resign.

The cats are paid a million pounds each because their rights were infringed when the government failed to inform them that there were mice in the UK.

The squirrel, the dogs and the victims of the hijacking, the bombing, the burglaries and robberies have to pay an additional percentage on their credit cards to cover losses. Their taxes are increased to pay for law and order, and they are told that they will have to work beyond 65 because of a shortfall in government funds.

[Eevo]

thats awesome!

[Tombie]

Woohoo top 1%
30 years of working my arse off,
No vices except alcohol, women, boats and land Rovers :angel:

4 of the most expensive vices out there :cool:

[numpty]

Where is the misapprehension, some people do pay 47% + + + .

And a lot of people go through life making no effective contribution to Treasury and then go on the pension. And a minority pay the majority of income tax.
I'm not making a value judgement, rather stating a fact.

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/no-the-rich-dont-pay-a-fair-share-of-tax-they-pay-all-of-it/story-e6frgd0x-1226841174461)

Only the top fifth of households ranked by their income - those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year in the financial year ending June 2012 - pay anything into the system net of the value of social security in cash and kind received, according to data from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of household income.

I reiterate ..... read the link I attached.

Yes, some people pay 47 cents in the dollar. But only on earnings in excess of $180,000.

Up to and including $180,000 the most you will pay in "income tax" is $54,547. High yes, but not even 33%. :D

[Eevo]

Up to and including $180,000 the most you will pay in "income tax" is $54,547. High yes, but not even 33%. :D
be nice if that 33% was spent well

[DiscoMick]

Where is the misapprehension, some people do pay 47% + + + .

And a lot of people go through life making no effective contribution to Treasury and then go on the pension. And a minority pay the majority of income tax.
I'm not making a value judgement, rather stating a fact.

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/no-the-rich-dont-pay-a-fair-share-of-tax-they-pay-all-of-it/story-e6frgd0x-1226841174461)

Only the top fifth of households ranked by their income - those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year in the financial year ending June 2012 - pay anything into the system net of the value of social security in cash and kind received, according to data from the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of household income.

What's the tax-free threshold now? It used to be about $18,000 the last time I checked. That's the reason the actual average tax paid in about 30% from memory. Everyone gets the benefit of that tax-free threshold, even those earning more than $180k a year.
I don't mind paying a reasonable rate of taxes to live in a civilized society with all its benefits. I've seen how it works in some other societies. In Thailand I was only paying 10%, but then only government employees get pensions, so I wouldn't recommend that.
Personally, I'm a big supporter of superannuation because it means consistent saving to make people less dependent on government pensions when they retire. Super. contributions should be raised to 15%, with the increases paid for by employees forgoing wage rises to instead save the money in their super accounts, I think. That's being self-supporting, which should be encouraged. Anyway, that discussion belongs in Current Affairs, so I won't say any more here.

[Chucaro]

I hate the way people think our lifestyle is all down to luck,luck my arse,we work for it.................................. Pat

This kids are working hard as well, perhaps more hard that many of us ever worked. ;)
It does not matter how hard you are willing to work if the country doesn not offer opportunities to all.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/10/476.jpg

[DiscoMick]

I liked Malcolm Turnbull's comment the other day when he said he didn't pretend that being rich meant he had worked harder than everyone else, because there were certainly people who had worked harder than him and hadn't done as well, he was just fortunate to have been lucky in some ways, and he paid all Australian taxes.
Of course, he was smart enough to grab the chance to get involved in Ozi early on and then to sell out for $50m, so good luck to him I say.
What irks me is when people argue they have a right to be rich and not pay a fair share of the cost of maintaining the community wealth which underpins individual wealth, as if they should be able to skim off the common wealth and not put back into it. I think that's just selfish greed. It's great when people do well, but they should also put back. That's responsible capitalism.

[JamesH]

What irks me is when people argue they have a right to be rich and not pay a fair share of the cost of maintaining the community wealth which underpins individual wealth, as if they should be able to skim off the common wealth and not put back into it. I think that's just selfish greed. It's great when people do well, but they should also put back. That's responsible capitalism.


A fair share is a subjective thing. Have a read of the article linked to above. It discusses figures well known and available to anyone who wants to learn about the rich actually pay and what the non rich actually pay in income tax. It will not change your mind about what he the rich should pay, but at least you will know what they do pay.


My two cents is that the rich pay too much and it irks me that people are so generous with other people's money. It's not actually generosity at all. I do have a right to be rich as long as I did not become so by breaking the law. I am not rich, I made certain life-style choices which mean I will never be rich without a lotto win.

[DiscoMick]

A fair share is a subjective thing. Have a read of the article linked to above. It discusses figures well known and available to anyone who wants to learn about the rich actually pay and what the non rich actually pay in income tax. It will not change your mind about what he the rich should pay, but at least you will know what they do pay.


My two cents is that the rich pay too much and it irks me that people are so generous with other people's money. It's not actually generosity at all. I do have a right to be rich as long as I did not become so by breaking the law. I am not rich, I made certain life-style choices which mean I will never be rich without a lotto win.

Yep, that's fair enough. I deliberately didn't say what I thought was a 'fair share' as its a contentious topic and belongs in Current Affairs.

[bob10]

I have a bad feeling about some of you people. MATTHEW 19.24


https://youtu.be/385QekwF-34

[TerryO]

I reiterate ..... read the link I attached.

Yes, some people pay 47 cents in the dollar. But only on earnings in excess of $180,000.

Up to and including $180,000 the most you will pay in "income tax" is $54,547. High yes, but not even 33%. :D

Agreed Numpty and to expand on that, if an Australian resident gets paid $250,000 a year their income tax rate including Medicare levy works out to about 36% roughly.

Using the ATO tax calculator even if your paid $700,000 a year your tax rate works out at roughly 40%. So for those of you who reckon your paying 47% congratulations I'm guessing your on over $1000,000 a year or you seriously need to change accountants and soon. ... ;)

Which brings me back to the point of this thread in the first place, either way your doing somewhat better, even if you have a very bad accountant, than the roughly 50% of the worlds population who only have around $6,000 in total wealth and little to no chance of ever bettering their living standards for themselves or their family's.

No matter how bad those of you who follow the cup is half empty methodology of thinking believe you have it if you compare the average standard of living here in Australia compared to the vast majority of the world then surely you must come to the conclusion that we do indeed live in the lucky country and we should be grateful for that.