The Rich Get Richer

The American Conservative ^ | September 25, 2006 Issue | James Kurth

[A. Pole]

However, the really animated core of the political lobby that supports illegal immigration—its mass base, so to speak—is composed of rich homeowners, who desperately want someone to do their dirty work and to do it cheaply.

Bump

[NonValueAdded]

I hope so ... I'd hate to finally make it to rich and find out that the new trend was for them to get poorer. :)

[sauropod]

This article is not even remotely "conservative."

[Niuhuru]

Haha, I can't disagree with you on that!

[tx_eggman]

The Economist reports that in the U.S. “the gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country.”

So, our rich are richer than theirs ... and our poor are richer than theirs. Hence, the fact that there is a gap between the two groups here doesn't amount to a hill of beans

[Howlin]

This is a headline you only see during Republican administrations.

[Inwoodian]

You lost me when you referred to Kevin Philips as a conservative.

[gcruse]

I couldn't wade through all the bloat. The shock is that it comes from something with the name Conservative attached to it.

[sauropod]

Yep.

Along with all the homeless. They disappear during a 'Rat administration.

Problem solved!

[wideawake]

Let's hope so.

[Mase]

We must kill the greedy Kulaks ping

[aynrandfreak]

Buchananite alert! To the extent that a growing disparity is there, it's because of the socialism that we've had in this country since 1914 (central bank, income tax, etc). The biggest income disparities are in places like North Korea where there is a ruling elite that has all the wealth.

One of the reasons that many of 'the rich' are liberal is that they know that to "stay ahead of the Jones'" they have to continue to innovate with their wealth, or at least keep others from reaching their net worth via socialist policies that make it tougher for others to make money.

[Alouette]

Will there be riots in Detroit when the Fordtanic goes down?

[mjp]

the gap between rich and poor is bigger than in any other advanced country

Send all the rich people with all their entire wealth to China. Then there will be no more gap. And I'll bet China would love to have them.

[Toddsterpatriot]

A.Pole misses Communist Poland where there were no rich to ruin it for the poor.

[Alouette]

Will there be riots in Detroit when the Fordtanic goes down?

To answer my own question: only if the Tigers win the playoffs.

[art_rocks]

Was there a dollar cutoff for what they consider to be rich?

[Alberta's Child]

According to the Congressional Budget Office, from 1979 to 2001, the after-tax income of the top 1 percent of U.S. households soared 139 percent, while the income of the middle fifth rose only 17 percent and the income of the poorest fifth climbed just 9 percent.

Any economic analyses based on measurements of household income (as opposed to personal income) are meaningless. The single biggest factor in the stagnation of household income in lower-income groups has been the decline in size of U.S. households. Low-income households today are far more likely to be headed by a single parent than middle-income or upper-income households. And low-income households today are far more likely to be headed by a single parent than low-income households 25 years ago.

So the problem with stagnating income among these groups is not so much an economic issue as it is a social/behavioral issue.

[durasell]

China is creating its own millionaires at a record rate --

June 10 (Bloomberg) -- The number of millionaires in Singapore rose at the fastest pace in the world in 2004, according to a report by Cap Gemini & Merrill Lynch & Co.

Singapore millionaires rose 22.4 percent to 48,500, the report said. In the U.S. the number increased 10 percent to 2.5 million and in Hong Kong they rose by 18.8 percent to 67,500. Asia had 2.3 million millionaires last year, up 8.2 percent, the research showed.

China's economic growth of 9.5 percent last year drove economic growth across the Asia Pacific region, the report said, and the world's most populous nation will continue to generate new wealth. Wealth globally swelled to $30.8 trillion by the end of 2004.

``China is generating wealth for a lot of people in Asia,'' said Stephen Corry, Merrill Lynch's vice president for regional equity strategy.

A yuan revaluation of 10 percent, which Merrill expects, would make it less expensive for mainland Chinese investors to purchase property here, or travel to the region for business and leisure. ``That spending effect is going to be positive for the entire region,'' he said.

Still, the number of Chinese millionaires grew by 4.3 percent to 299,500, compared with a 25 percent growth rate in 2003. That was due mainly to a slump in China's stock indexes, which are the worst performers among 79 benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg worldwide during the past 12 months.

Li Ka-shing, who controls Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., is Hong Kong's richest and the world's 22nd richest man, according to an annual survey published by Forbes magazine. Singapore's richest man, property magnate Kwek Leng Beng, is worth $2.8 billion, Forbes said. Kwek owns City Developments Ltd., and the Millennium and Copthorne Hotel chains.

The report projects Asian wealth to grow by 6.9 percent annually to $10.1 trillion by 2009, compared with a 3.8 percent growth in European wealth to $10.7 trillion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Douglas Wong in Hong Kong at dwong19@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 10, 2005 08:04 EDT