This Pyramid Shows How The World's Wealth Is Distributed And The Gigantic Gap Between Rich And Poor

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/global-wealth-pyramid-2013-10

Here's a great little visualizer of how the world's wealth is broken down among the ultra-super-rich, the super-rich, the rich, and everyone else.

It's from Credit Suisse (via @FGoria) and it shows how 32 million people, representing 0.7% of the world's adult, population control $98.7 trillion or about 41% of the world's wealth.

On the base of the pyramid we see that 3.2 billion people, representing 68.7% of the world's adult population, control just 3% of the world's wealth, or about $7.3 trillion.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/global-wealth-pyramid-2013-10#ixzz2hDraICQy

[aristocles]

1. Hasn't this always been the case, for at least the last 10,000 years?

Has it ever been different? Anywhere? At any time in history?

Life isn't "fair". Is it? It's a crapshoot.

[xchrom]

2. this isn't 'life' -- it's a creation of ours and it doesn't have to be this way. nt

[Stargazer99]

3. doesn't have to be this way-AMEN

[DireStrike]

4. I don't think it has been this bad before.

And this is way beyond "unfair".

[polly7]

5. When "Life isn't fair" translates into millions starving and

struggling to survive each day with food insecurity and abject poverty, wars that maim and mutilate and make homeless millions more to profit none other than those at the top of that pyramid, it's a bit more than a crapshoot ... it's an atrocity, and should make EVERYONE sick.

In other words, we could fill a 300-seat plane with the 300 richest persons in the world, yet their wealth exceeds the combined wealth of three billion people: nearly half of humankind.

So the real question is: in a vastly unjust society, does democracy work? Or does it become just a formal mechanism to accommodate those inside the system, and ignore the excluded? Do those 300 sitting in the plane of extreme wealth have the same view of the world as the 3 billion poor left on the ground? And if not, does their view of the world counts as much as that of the 300 people on the plane?

http://www.zcommunications.org/sliding-back-to-a-victorian-age-by-roberto-savio.html

I would say that no, the 300 sitting on the plane of extreme wealth don't have the same view of the world as the 3 billion poor left on the ground and I find that beyond frightening.

[historylovr]

6. Exactly.

"Life isn't fair" is a dismissive cop-out.

[Ikonoklast]

10. Libertarian Mantra.

It's nicer than "Fuck You, I've Got Mine".

[BelgianMadCow]

18. "in a vastly unjust society, does democracy work? Or does it become just a formal mechanism?"

"in a vastly unjust society, does democracy work? Or does it become just a formal mechanism to accommodate those inside the system, and ignore the excluded?"

I think that's what is called "managed democracy".

It's the illusion of choice, like in the supermarket. Choose brand A, B or C. They all come from the same concern, and even when they're from a different concern, very likely still from the same (low wage) factory.

[snagglepuss]

21. Biologicaly speaking life may not be fair but income distribution and exploitive economic systems

like capitalism could be fair as they are not biologically determined.

[Sirveri]

22. I would say to shoot the plane down...

But people tell me I shouldn't say that.

[socialist_n_TN]

8. My answer to "life isn't fair", since I was a kid, has always been...

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean I won't try to MAKE it fair.

[Enthusiast]

9. It has gotten far worse in the US in the past decade.

Once again:

[mountain grammy]

11. "All we have to do is wake up..."

[Skeeter Barnes]

12. It's no crapshoot. It's by design.

[ehrnst]

13. Life is a whole lot less of a crap shoot for some - because

others take a lot more of a hit.

That's not life - that's optional, and it's not acceptable.

[ehrnst]

14. Actually, archaeologists have determined that our ancestors thousands of years ago

tended to the sick and disabled - they didn't leave them to die, even when 'life' dealt them a bad roll in the Crap shoot.

So, yes, it has been different. Our ancestors shared resources, and that would include wealth, with those that had less.


http://www.care2.com/causes/ancient-bones-acts-of-kindness-eons-ago.html

[TalkingDog]

16. And by "crapshoot" you mean the deck is stacked so the house wins 90% of the time?

The people with money and power get laws passed to help the people with money and power.

So, it's not a "crapshoot". Please stop using poor terminology and bad argumentation.

Nobody expects life to the fair. But if those in charge keep propagandizing about "healthy competition" why are they surprised when people expect them to act honorably, hold fast to their word and allow for healthy (read open and fair) competition?

[vanlassie]

7. The L Curve is a lot easier to understand

as a visual. www.lcurve.org

[MichaelKelley]

15. cannot be done anything

Yes, this is the known fact that there is a difference between rich and poor, but this is the situation that has been talked about the most and no one is having the solution for this.

[TalkingDog]

17. Other cultures have come up with a solution. Over and over again througout history

Read up on a term called "Potlatch". Or voluntary redistribution of wealth.

Frankly your world view is limited.

Welcome to DU

[leftstreet]

19. DURec

[hfojvt]

20. that is all private wealth

I had a thought the other day. Much of the wealth in this country is PUBLIC wealth. Our local water department, for example, in this city of 35,000 has some $40,000,000 in assets. The city also has - a dozen parks, a city hall, a community center, two pools (including one indoors), a waste water treatment plant, a service center. All of that is PUBLIC wealth. Used and maintained for the benefit of the public. Not to mention the city streets and the storm water system.

Same with the school district - one high school, several sports fields, two middle schools and four grade schools and an administrative office.

Then what does the state government own? And county government and townships. And the Federal government? "We the people" own the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and Acadia National Park and Glacier National Park and the interstate highway system. We own many state universities as well.

The wealth of this nation is largely owned by the people of this nation. Compare just the Forbes 400 to our water department. The Forbes 400 is worth $2 trillion. Our water department is worth $40 million. So the Forbes 400 is worth 50,000 water departments that serve 35,000 people. There are about 9,000 such water departments in this country (by population). So the Forbes 400 is worth only about 6 times as much as the water departments of this country.

But that is JUST the water departments. This city has $81 million in assets. And what about counties and states and federal and school districts? The state of Kansas is spending $1 billion on capital improvements this year alone. Meaning what? Kansas has $10 billion or $20 billion (or more) in assets? And Kansas has less than 1% of the country's population.