At the ASI.
If people aren’t rioting in the streets over rising wealth and income inequality then maybe it’s not all that important?
At the ASI.
If people aren’t rioting in the streets over rising wealth and income inequality then maybe it’s not all that important?
I’ve long been convinced, wealth accumulated past a certain point is more of a curse than a blessing. Can’t help noticing from the seriously wealthy I’ve observed, most of their energy & resources are devoted to preserving it. Thus, it gives us all an opportunity to rip them off providing the services.
Their desire for yachts mean yachts get built. And yachts need crews & provisioning & marina services &…
Would we all be better off with our own rowing boat?
I can’t row so no, not all better off with rowing boat.
Perhaps whats important to the fantasies of certain individuals simply isn’t as important to the people on the streets. Perhaps they want no cuts, better pensions, end to the war in Gaza (quite why the demonstrate here for that I’ll never know – Gaza is the place to do it!) and so on. Without rioting.
Reminds me of the students a few years back who were kettled in London, some were protesting about student fees – which came in when they were primary school kids!
@b(n)is
I presume you mean super yachts as opposed to the 10-13m variety you see in most of the marinas.
Unless you are in a commercial Marina on the south cost close to the Solent the running are costs are not much more than a Premier League season ticket and if you add in a family ticket and traveling to away games I bet my (10m yacht) running costs are about the same as following a Premier League team, and nobody accuses thoe follwers of being amongst the rich.
As for super yachts being good for the economy, Sunseeker have just about revived the economy of Poole single handed.
@BwaB
From what I used to see from the window, if it wasn’t a $100m gin palace with hot ‘n cold running Russian whores you weren’t worth knowing.
Move up a class.
It’s all relative.
Next time some middle class leftie starts screeching on about the 1%/99% divide, you might want to point out that world-wide you’re in the top 1% if you earn in excess of £35k.
Perhaps it is because we have had declining wealth and income inequality in the UK since the Coalition government came to power?
People are, on average, worse off than at the peak of the Brown/Greenspan bubble [UK GDP is now greater but so is the population so GDP/head is still lower] but the median income has fallen by significantly less than the mean income – which means top incomes have fallen by a lot more than average or lower incomes. Meanwhile the rich and the mass affluent are paying more in tax so their after-tax income has dropped even more.
I think that you are drawing a false conclusion because Picketty and his followers are basing their arguments on a set of assumption which are discordant with reality as observed in the UK.
I seem like a stuck record – the only UK government in my lifetime to increase wealth inequality over its term was New Labour.
They did riot in 2011. It was a bit worrying for those who live here. Long term lessons? I don’t know.
@ Luke
After 13 years of New Labour increasing inequality and less than one of the Coalition reducing it with the left-wing media blaming inequality on the Tories.