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Wealth inequality stands at its highest since the turn of the 20th century - the so-called 'Gilded Age' - as the proportion of capital held by the world's 1,542 dollar billionaires swells yet higher. The report, undertaken by Swiss banking giant UBS and UK accounting company PwC, discusses the roles technology and globalization play in the status quo, and appears two weeks after the IMF recommended that the rich should pay more tax to address the enormous disparity.
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TOO BAD YOU CAN'T BUY a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin
real fast and freak everybody out.
-- Jack Handey, The New Mexican, 1988.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:17PM (8 children)
Well, let's have a look at your snake oil then. What's the magic fix that'll bring several billion people quickly to developed world status?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:44PM (5 children)
Right now, I'm focusing on keeping the developed world at developed world status. As usual, you're focused on moving the goalposts. Do tell, why is it necessary to screw everyone over to develop the 3rd world.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:29PM (4 children)
So who's been moving the goalposts? Here's what I originally wrote in this thread:
then
Sounds very consistent to me: wealth building, developed world status for most of the world - all the same thing. Now let's consider your posts in this same thread:
and then
You've backtracked from "bring prosperity sooner" to "keeping the developed world at developed world status", which is classic moving the goalpost rhetoric. Further, I'm not interested in merely stabilizing the developed world (merely maintaining the status quo won't somehow "bring prosperity sooner", but rather keep that prosperity away indefinitely from those who don't already have it), but bringing the many benefits of the developed world to everyone in the world.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:19PM (3 children)
Given that TFA is talking about the developed world, it's not much of a stretch for me to expect the comments to be on-topic.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:42PM (2 children)
"World" not "developed world".
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:04PM (1 child)
The world is witnessing it, but the billionaires aren't in the 3rd world. The taxes would come from the developed world.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:25PM
Well, who was claiming that they're all in the Third World? There are a fair number [wikipedia.org] in the developing world, it's not a phenomenon exclusive to the developed world, though obviously the developed world is inordinately endowed with them. For example, Slim Carlos is Mexican and the sixth richest person in the world.
From the link, there are just over 2000 billionaires in the world, with China having over 300 and India over 100.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
What's the magic fix that'll bring several billion people quickly to developed world status?
Disobedience. Our own submissiveness/subservience is the only thing stopping us. It is the direct cause of all our poverty. The prison is our own making. And the truth is that we can turn on a dime if we want to [youtube.com]. So, yes, we can do it quickly.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:40PM
No, it's the sheer incompetence. Let us keep in mind that people can already vote for leaders that reflect their interests throughout most of the world. They can spend less than they earn. The combination of the two is a usual way to empower people.
So we're to expect that these many incompetent people will rebel in a way that quickly makes things better? I think that's nonsense. Maybe after the years of inevitable power struggles and betrayals of principle, a Napoleonic strong man will emerge to tell the masses where to go. Or maybe it'll be Pol Pot. Interesting times.