# The top 1% - the World over... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 6, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680 "2010-07-06T05:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/161 "2010-07-09T20:38:25Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Amassing a billion dollars and keeping it is no easy task, as is evident from the scarcity of such individuals. This is true. Hint: giving away billions of dollars to your trusted friends? Not such a good way of keeping billions of dollars. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/162 "2010-07-09T21:40:48Z")
Without further fucking comment, pigs and frogs. [http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/09-2](http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/09-2) > [@](#): > > The riches of the wealthiest North Americans grew by double digits in 2009, primarily from interest their money earned when it was invested in the stock market and elsewhere, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group. > > Millionaires in the U.S. and Canada saw their wealth increase 15 percent in 2009, to a total of 4.6 trillion dollars, the report found. > > Worldwide, 11 million - or less than 1 percent of all households - were millionaires in 2009. They owned about 38 percent of the world’s wealth or 111 trillion dollars, up from about 36 percent in 2008, according to Boston Consulting Group. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/163 "2010-07-09T22:08:47Z")
You know, even for the Pit, my characterizing people as pigs and frogs may seem harsh. I’ll try to lighten things up. A pig in Nature is Her plow. A pig domesticated to cheap oil greased supermarket handouts could be a Pub, Dem, Lib, Rad and/or **adhay**. The only motion/rapid change over time with which frogs are truly at ease is that struggling dragonfly dripping sticky at the end of its tongue. They’re much like pigs in that regard, they don’t like to dance. Meanwhile, the rich get richer … ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/164 "2010-07-10T01:49:54Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > Meanwhile, the rich get richer … I sure do! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/165 "2010-07-10T13:55:48Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Amassing a billion dollars and keeping it is no easy task, as is evident from the scarcity of such individuals. I’d expect such people to share more interesting character traits , than the population of Peckerwood, USA. The top 400 richest people in America starts 1t 1.3 billion. It is up about 300 thou from last year. The top at are accumulating money at an unprecedented rate. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/166 "2010-07-10T16:15:25Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > This is true. > > Hint: giving away billions of dollars to your trusted friends? Not such a good way of keeping billions of dollars. Whereas giving it to family members who are just as wealth and power-hungry as yourself doesn’t seem to work out too bad. Case in point, said Rockefellers. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/167 "2010-07-10T16:32:38Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Whereas giving it to family members who are just as wealth and power-hungry as yourself doesn’t seem to work out too bad. Case in point, said Rockefellers. I plan on using a nefarious scheme to pass along a portion of my wealth to my heirs. It’s purely diabolical, I tells ya! I don’t think anyone has caught on to my plans yet - don’t tell anyone, mkay? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/168 "2010-07-10T18:30:31Z")
Passing on your pittance isn’t going to have much bearing on the lives of thousands, possibly millions, as in the case of Kim Jong Il, for example, when he passes his inheritance over to his less than sensibly raised son. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/169 "2010-07-10T18:44:07Z")
Wait… are communist dictators also part of the conspiracy now? I thought it was just capitalist running dogs like John D. Rockefeller. Hold on a moment… Has anyone ever see a Rockefeller and Kim Jong in the same room? Just sayin’… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/170 "2010-07-10T19:49:44Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Whereas giving it to family members who are just as wealth and power-hungry as yourself doesn’t seem to work out too bad. Case in point, said Rockefellers. For Fuck’s sake, John D. Rockefeller is dead. He doesn’t control the Rockefeller fortune through shadowy proxies, because he’s dead. The Rockefeller fortune is not controlled as a unit, because, again, the guy who used to control it as a unit is pushing up daisies. He is an ex-parrot. I mean, why is it only the Rockefeller fortune that works that way? Bill Gates has billions of dollars, why not theorize that he has lots of extra billions that he has stashed with trusted minions? Why not theorize that any random person walking down the street is a secret billionaire, it’s just that he’s given his billions to Warren Buffet, and Warren Buffet reports to him? Thing is, transfering large amounts of wealth–I’m not talking millions, mind you–can’t really be done in secret, because wealth measured in billions isn’t in liquid money, it’s in stock and real assets. Bill Gates is worth billions because he owns X shares of Microsoft, and each share is worth $Y on the open market. He doesn’t have a giant money bin like Scrooge McDuck, and he can’t give away billions of dollars by loading up a dumptruck full of hundred dollar bills and trucking it over to his buddy’s house. But to give away billions, he needs to give away Microsoft stock. He can’t do that in secret, can he? And anyway, according to your scenario Bill doesn’t want to secretly give away wealth, he wants the reverse–to seem to give away wealth while still controlling it. So please find an instance where a billionaire gave away vast sums to his relatives–while he was still alive and still active in business. I suppose the Gates foundation could be an example, but Bill still controls the Gates foundation, so it doesn’t matter how many billions he gives to the foundation, he still controls the money and everyone knows it. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/171 "2010-07-10T20:17:07Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Whereas giving it to family members who are just as wealth and power-hungry as yourself doesn’t seem to work out too bad. Case in point, said Rockefellers. Serious question: could you count up 150 family members (siblings, cousins, grandkids, nieces, nephews, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, 4th cousins twice removed) that you would unfailingly trust with that much money and a worldwide conspiracy? What is it about billionaire DNA that is so entirely undiluteable that it makes their family members, every last stinkin’ one of them, flawless in maintaining the cabal’s interests and secrecy? No black sheep that spill the beans and/or blow the inheritance? Ever? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/172 "2010-07-11T04:32:46Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Serious question: could you count up 150 family members (siblings, cousins, grandkids, nieces, nephews, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, 4th cousins twice removed) that you would unfailingly trust with that much money and a worldwide conspiracy? What is it about billionaire DNA that is so entirely undiluteable that it makes their family members, every last stinkin’ one of them, flawless in maintaining the cabal’s interests and secrecy? No black sheep that spill the beans and/or blow the inheritance? Ever? They saw what happened to Michael Rockefeller\* when he threatened to talk? (\*For anyone who doesn’t want to look it up: Disappeared in New Guinea, possibly killed by headhunters & eaten.) ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/173 "2010-07-11T08:33:09Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Or is that guy another ranting nutjob? You mean like you? Now I’m not saying you’re part of a disinformation campaign on behalf of the lizard people shadow government, but if I was a billionaire Illuminati ruling the masses from thousands of miles away I’d consider your [del]insane[/del] inane ramblings to be a positive boon in keeping the masses asleep to the master plan. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/174 "2010-07-11T09:20:00Z")
Look, let’s leave the personal jibes out of this. You’re not very original with them, and you can’t even manage to make them amusing. I asked a relatively straightforward question: Is Robert Bowman your typical CT-motivated crank? This also raises the question of whose word would those who believe in “The Official Truth” accept as being worthy of merit? Are there no “respected individuals” raising questions of import regarding this subject? Who are “the authorities” on these topics, and what gives them their status? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/175 "2010-07-11T11:04:23Z")
Man, you don’t even troll well anymore **ivan**. Oh wait, anymore implies you were once good at it. Reduced to 3 sets of scare quotes in 3 short sentences? “The authorities” might have to send you to the “truth camps” to make you conform to the “official version.” ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/176 "2010-07-11T11:14:10Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Man, you don’t even troll well anymore **ivan**. Oh wait, anymore implies you were once good at it. Make your mind up, shit-fer-brains. Ambiguity doesn’t work very well on a messageboard. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/177 "2010-07-11T12:32:13Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I plan on using a nefarious scheme to pass along a portion of my wealth to my heirs. It’s purely diabolical, I tells ya! … Joint checking accounts? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/178 "2010-07-12T17:36:07Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Are there no “respected individuals” raising questions of import regarding this subject? Who are “the authorities” on these topics, and what gives them their status? I believe they derive their “status” from “avoiding” overuse of “quotation” marks, but “that’s” just a “guess.” ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/179 "2010-07-12T19:28:28Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > I believe they derive their “status” from “avoiding” overuse of “quotation” marks, but “that’s” just a “guess.” You used more than me, you ballsack! Oh. Right. It was a joke sort of thing. Pardon my _faux pas_. I didn’t realise there was a usage limit on “”'s. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680/180 "2010-07-12T20:21:53Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Oh. Right. It was a joke sort of thing. Pardon my _faux pas_. I didn’t realise there was a usage limit on “”'s. The “limit”, for the record, is don’t use the damn things unless you actually are trying to say something about the thing you’ve enclosed in quotes. For example, my use of them above is to say that the “limit” doesn’t exist at all, except in the sense of “don’t put scare quotes around lots of things unless you’re prepared to deal with the rhetorical consequences of being considered a complete douche toboggan.” The use in the second paragraph was to call attention to a definition! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-1-the-world-over/545680.md?page=8)