Rich get richer by 12%, poor get poorer in the wake of the financial crisis

[Hannah Bell]

Fortunes mount for the wealthy in wake of the finance crisis

According to a recent study issued by the Boston Consulting Group, the rich are getting richer worldwide despite the deepest financial and economic crisis since the 1930s.

In 2009 the worldwide net assets of private investors in the form of cash, shares, securities or funds increased by 11.5 percent to a total of $111.5 trillion. This is more than equivalent to the losses to the world economy following the onset of the economic crisis in 2008.

In 2008 global net assets plunged by more than 10 percent, or approximately $100 trillion in comparison to 2007. Now the fortunes of the rich and super-rich have accelerated to reach the same level as prior to the outbreak of the international financial crisis that began with the collapse of Lehmann Brothers in September 2008.

Divided into regions of the world, North America registered the largest absolute appreciation of assets with an increase of $4.6 trillion (15 percent). In Europe, private fortunes grew slightly less, at 8 percent, but Europe remained the richest region of the world with total private assets of $37.1 trillion compared to North America ($35.1 trillion).

...This small elite of millionaires, who together constitute less than 1 percent of all households worldwide, were responsible for 38 percent of all investments made in 2009. A major reason for the increase in net assets of the rich and super-rich are the rescue packages totalling several trillion dollars made available to the banks and financial institutions by governments all over the world.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/rich-j15.shtml

[Canuckistanian]

1. Mission Accomplished

:banghead:

[ForeignSpectator]

2. Talk again about wealth being "destroyed"....

...actually merely transferred, that's what it's about right there.

Change you can believe in

[KillCapitalism]

7. Yep, it's like a pie.

The rich are hogging it all & leaving us with maybe a few crumbs. I had to set a RW'er straight when he was talking about "growing" wealth. I asked "How does it grow? Does it grow on money trees, or fall from the sky?" He didn't seem to understand the Federal Reserve controls the money supply and the only way wealth is "grown" is when the Fed cranks up the printing presses.

[Scuba]

3. But they need tax breaks, huh?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. wow...the definition of rich seems to be ANYONE

with a little cash on hand...

<snip>
In 2009 the worldwide net assets of private investors in the form of cash, shares, securities or funds...
</snip>

I guess that makes me rich...maybe even super-rich. I have ALL of those. But that statement is so broad I would be willing to bet that you do too, Hannah. You had to pay for this internet-thingy so you could post...so you have some amount of liquid reserves somewhere (or someone is paying for it for you).

Love those amorphous terms like 'rich'...especially when they are stretched to include almost everyone holding even a penny...

sP

[melm00se]

6. I noticed that too

if you invest and have "cash, shares, securities or funds" you are rich.

I guess I am too.

ProdigalJunkMail, shall you and I retire to the club, light our cigars with $100 bills, sip 100 year old brandy and after that roll around the floor in our piles of riches?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

9. as longs as it's...

retire to the den, sit on the faded old sofa...light up my Camel's with my old Zippo and chug a slightly less aged lager I'm all for it :-)

sP

[reggie the dog]

13. can i sit on a faded outdoor "sofa" adapted

for indoors and light a joint with a match??? Really I have 1500 in the bank.... seriously on a world wide scale we are rich compared to people getting by on 3 dollars a day

[ProdigalJunkMail]

15. you may fire up whatever you choose...but beware...

my neighbor has a good nose and is a bit of a moocher :-)

sP

[reggie the dog]

16. a scavenger like in the movie friday huh...;

well as long as they are willing to listen to me blabber on and on about this and that once i am stoned i see no problem

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. then we'll all get along just fine... n/t

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. Does a 401 K count as an investment?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

10. i would have to say yes given the broad nature of the statement in question...

[reggie the dog]

12. you are rich

my life savings amount to 1500 euros, i have no stocks, no equity in my condo because it is worth less than when i started my mortgage..... perhaps you are what is left of the middle class... there should be a difference between rich and middle class as the middle class's interests are often closer to those of the poor and working classes we should not paint the middle class as rich, if the middle class is lumped in with the rich they may just vote right wing then to preserve their own "wealth"....

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. i agree, reggie...I am rich beyond measure

and while I have a little money socked away here and there...you fall under the definition of rich in this article because, meager though you feel it may be, you have cash.

this article paints ANYONE with ANY money as rich...and that is what I am objecting to. Rich is such an amorphous term and is thrown around here with such venom...it is then defined in such a way as to describe EVERYONE who posts here...I find that a bit ... odd.

sP

[reggie the dog]

19. like i said, we are part of the fading middle class

and compared to most people in ghana, algeria, vietnam, boliva, honduras and hell even lithuania we are rich

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. yes...it is something that I try to remind my kids about

when they are whining that they didn't get something they 'want' or feel they 'need.' i try to explain to them that they, right now, don't have a real ideal of what 'need' is...i hope that i go about it gently enough to impress on them that there are people out there who really have needs that are not being met...and not just wants. i do this so that they will be good stewards of what they have and be generous with what they can...

sP

[reggie the dog]

22. well done

i am begining to do the same with my 2 year old

[xchrom]

5. Recommend

[reggie the dog]

11. well at least we can see who governements are working for

and it sure aint me or my kind

[blindpig]

18. Glaringly obvious.

It seems that in their desperation to pump up the next quarter they have thrown caution and discretion to the wind, it's all out in the open now without even a fig leaf. A dangerous game for them, let us all become Greeks.

[Cresent City Kid]

21. Redistribution is a one way street

Where are all the jobs that "not taxing our most productive" is supposed to create? Pool boy doesn't count.