Humanity, richer than ever (but very unequal)

[Christophe]

Oh yes : http://rue89.nouvelobs.com/2013/10/10/r ... rts-246485

Global wealth has doubled since 2000 (and 9 other revolting figures)

Financial services group Credit Suisse and the Red Cross have each just released a report that has a desperate reading.

The first (in English, PDF) makes a statistical assessment of global wealth. We learn that it "has more than doubled since 2000, reaching a new historical record 241 000 billion".

The second (in English, PDF) talks about the "humanitarian impacts of the economic crisis in Europe" (42 countries studied in the European Union, the Balkans, Eastern Europe). He notes that "the number of people dependent on 22 Red Cross food distributions in the countries concerned has increased by 75% between 2009 and 2012".

Some figures to remember from these two reports.

46% of World Heritage is held by 1% of households

Global wealth grew by 4,9% between mid-2012 and mid-2013, the period examined by Credit Suisse, and 68% over the last ten years.

The wealthiest percent of households starts at 753 000 dollars (557 000 euros) and raises 46% of World Heritage - share up - while two-thirds of households, whose wealth remains stable, represent only 3% of global wealth.

You have to have a wealth of 4 000 dollars (about 3 000 euros) to be in the richest half of the globe, and 75 000 dollars (55 500 euros) to be in the slice of 10% the richest.

(...)

[sen-no-sen]

The term wealth is largely usurped, it would be more accurate to talk about production.
This false abundance only benefits a minority of individuals and on the other hand it extrapolates the future of all ecosystems and humanity ...

[Did67]

I understood that, on the contrary, there was talk of heritage.

But then, with more 75 000 dollars, I am rich!

I'm talking about my cultural heritage. which consists of a house, a few "machines", 3 cars (I'm talking about my family of 3, currently). Not from my income ...

Good news !!!!

[But it's still not clear]

[But it is obvious that there are more and more rich, that there is more and more capital. And also more and more poor people at home. There is quite a lot of it elsewhere, but the cursor is still moving pretty damn well in some countries. Europe is in the process of relative impoverishment, and besides, we have more and more difficult to cover our collective needs - health, education, security ... France in particular is a little like one of these old familars bourgeois, in his castle decati, who still pretends to be rich while the floor is cracking, it rains on the ceiling, and that the garden has become a wasteland ... The cousins ​​dispute an offer that does not exist already more ... No need for studies. Just to watch.]

[sen-no-sen]

I'm talking about my cultural heritage. which consists of a house, a few "machines", 3 cars (I'm talking about my family of 3, currently). Not from my income ...
Good news !!!!

To obtain your goods, it was necessary to produce, and this production is the result of the extraction then the transformation of raw material.
And I confirm, like almost all French (even smicard) you are rich!

France in particular is a bit like one of those old bourgeois familiars, in her decayed castle, who still pretends to be rich when the floor cracks, it rains on the ceiling, and that the garden has become a wasteland .

At the individual level, and despite a tendency to impoverishment, we can say that historically the French have never been so rich ...
The problem lies in the fact that all wealth and relative has a given environment; at a time when a radio was a sign of wealth, it is now necessary to own a whole lot of goods to be considered as having reached a certain level of " success".
Overall, wealth (strictly consumerist) can be considered as the ability to dissipate more energy than the average, this is perfectly correlated by observation, the billionaires generally have powerful vehicles, one or more boats to see a jet private, and some will even pay for trips to the limits of space ...

The trouble is that "wealth" is directly correlated with extractions on the environment and that the externalities of this are automatically passed on to one or the other, as much to say as to say it. Louis de Funes in "megalomania":"the rich are made to be very rich and the poor very poor".

[Ahmed]

When we speak of "wealth", it is interesting to distinguish between material wealth, concrete and abstract wealth; the latter designating the accumulation of abstract value, of capital.

Real wealth, as an accumulation of merchandise, has greatly increased, though the objects concerned tend, for the most part, to become impoverished (in their content or substance).
However, it is the abstract wealth that has experienced the most significant (and most unequal) expansion since the turn of the 1970 years.
If you consider the evolution of the activity of large companies of the CAC40 in recent years, you will not notice any major changes, but their market capitalization has surprisingly increased ...
It is that the financial industry has replaced the real industry to avoid bankruptcy, however finance can not completely disconnect from reality and can only temporarily extend the deadline.
Our society (considered under the sole capitalist aspect) has become much too rich to find enough lucrative opportunities that can further increase the amount of this abstract wealth ... It is therefore an insoluble contradiction and can not, henceforth, accomplish its irrational purpose.