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

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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:14PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @07:14PM (#589171)

    Because in terms of income inequality, it's not the amount of stocks you own, it's the amount of money that those stocks are generating whether they're reinvested or the earnings are collected. That's the basis on which people get taxed on stocks in the US, there's a few minor fees, but that's about it. The money that you have tied up in it is a reasonable measure over short time periods as long as there are no major events distorting it.

    In terms of determining wealth, that's rather questionable, it's mostly a dick measuring contest as you're not going to be able to sell those stocks for anywhere near what they're worth unless you're selling small batches over long periods of time.

    But, really, the point you're refusing to acknowledge here is that we can't all cash out our stock holdings and get the money the market cap out of it. That's just not how stocks work, a few small investors can, but if everybody tried there'd be a run on the stocks and the market would crash like it did in 1929.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:52PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 29 2017, @08:52PM (#589205) Journal

    Because in terms of income inequality, it's not the amount of stocks you own, it's the amount of money that those stocks are generating whether they're reinvested or the earnings are collected.

    Dividend is taxed twice - first as corporate taxes and second as income, not as capital gains.

    But, really, the point you're refusing to acknowledge here is that we can't all cash out our stock holdings and get the money the market cap out of it. That's just not how stocks work, a few small investors can, but if everybody tried there'd be a run on the stocks and the market would crash like it did in 1929.

    So wealth of the 1% is smaller than advertised. Who knew?