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The Second Gilded Age Is Here

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the goose-and-the-golden-egg dept.

Robotron writes:

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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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:44PM (5 children)

    by sjames (2882) on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:44PM (#589141) Journal

    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.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:29PM (4 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 29 2017, @06:29PM (#589152) Journal
    Here's what moving the goalposts [wikipedia.org] means:

    Moving the goalposts (or shifting the goalposts) is a metaphor, derived from association football or other games, that means to change the criterion (goal) of a process or competition while still in progress, in such a way that the new goal offers one side an intentional advantage or disadvantage.

    So who's been moving the goalposts? Here's what I originally wrote in this thread:

    My view is that now as in the actual Gilded Age, we're in an era of wealth building. This will be followed by a golden age of humanity (I think 2050-2150 sounds like a good time span for that, the start point will be marked by China advancing to developed world status).

    then

    What's the magic fix that'll bring several billion people quickly to developed world status?

    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:

    We can bring prosperity sooner and we should.

    and then

    Right now, I'm focusing on keeping the developed world at developed world status.

    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)

      by sjames (2882) on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:19PM (#589174) Journal

      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)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:42PM (#589181) Journal
        I'm not the article and the article is not talking about the developed world. Look at the title of the article:

        World's witnessing a new Gilded Age as billionaires’ wealth swells to $6tn

        "World" not "developed world".

        • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:04PM (1 child)

          by sjames (2882) on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:04PM (#589187) Journal

          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

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:25PM (#589196) Journal

            The world is witnessing it, but the billionaires aren't in the 3rd world.

            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.