Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds • Hacker News Board

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#71

Post by simianwords » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:40 AM UTC

maciejzj wrote: post #67

simianwords wrote: post #26

Rich people having too much wealth is not necessarily that bad a thing because most of the investment is in productive companies. It’s not like they are using their wealth on frivolous consumption. Which means redistribution would only change who controls the investment and not the actual consumption patterns of people. Implication is that poor people will consume the same as before after redistribution with perhaps…

I would say that we have now enough information to say that this sentiment (characteristic for some strata of american society) is simply not true: 1) Wealthy people account for more and more % of consumption (now about 50% in the US). Source by Federal Reserve via Bloomberg: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/capital-markets/top-10-of-earn... . 2) "Investment in productive companies" now either goes to: a) financial inst…

1) you are damn right that top 10% consume as much as bottom 50 or whatever. Let’s be clear that taxing this bunch of people even more will have disastrous consequences. I’m okay with it if it works out. Top 10% includes everyone pretty much in HN.

2)

a) PE is owned mostly by pension firms that the public has a huge stake in. Billionaires have stake mostly in their own companies rather than in PE firms.

b) AI investment for job displacement is necessary for overall prosperity and efficiency.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#72

Post by JimmyBuckets » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:42 AM UTC

adrian_b wrote: post #27

I would not care at all if 1 ppm of the world population would hold 100 times the wealth of the poorest half of the world population, if all of the poorest half would have nonetheless the means to produce their minimum necessities in energy, food, clothes etc., independently of others, so that their survival for the next months or weeks or even days would not be completely dependent on the benevolence of the rich to…

I would agree here if our political systems weren't vulnerable to capture by wealth. Inequality drives more inequality, it has to be counterbalanced by laws.

The majority of human civilisation has been feudal. We recently got democracy for everyone. We are not yet out of reach of our local civilisational attractor.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#73

Post by JimmyBuckets » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:43 AM UTC

norome wrote: post #58

I think it's become popular to talk about the issue of accumulation of wealth, and make this kind of dramatic wealth comparison to point out how uneven the distribution is. I wish wealth wasn't treated so abstractly as if it's some kind of universal measure of evil. I would like to learn about some specific cases of hyper wealthy people and what they are actually up to. Seems like some very rich people do really usef…

Tell me you don't worry about money without telling me you don't worry about money

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#74

Post by JimmyBuckets » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:46 AM UTC

brap wrote: post #56

The usual first-world disapproval over wealth disparity... often oblivious to the fact that you, the reader, were the global 1% all along

The minimum entry requirement for top 1% inclusion is about 1 million dollars.

So your comment is just wrong.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#75

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:50 AM UTC

norome wrote: post #58

I think it's become popular to talk about the issue of accumulation of wealth, and make this kind of dramatic wealth comparison to point out how uneven the distribution is. I wish wealth wasn't treated so abstractly as if it's some kind of universal measure of evil. I would like to learn about some specific cases of hyper wealthy people and what they are actually up to. Seems like some very rich people do really usef…

> Historically the only time the trend of wealth accumulation reverses is during massive crises, wars, and civilizational collapse which make life worse for everyone and nobody with any sense would wish for.

Yes. Which is why the question of social responsibility of the rich matters far more, because they can't help getting involved in politics. And a lot of them seem surprisingly pro-collapse, or at least pro-authoritarian. It's a common pattern in South American countries where demands for rights and equality scare the property owning class, because they might have to share a bit with the general population; this results in coups, dictators, suppression of protests etc, which results in an equally violent retaliation. You don't get Castro without Batista.

Since the general agreement that money = speech = votes, the habit of rich people buying news media to be their personal propaganda (e.g. Bezos with WaPo, the Berlusconi media empire, Murdoch etc), has also made the world a lot worse.

AI accelerates the problem, since part of the pitch is "we're going to obliterate a large amount of white collar and lower middle class work entirely, while also removing the state safety net". Not clear whether that will actually happen as promised to the shareholders, but it could be hugely disruptive.

Then there's people's more local, lived experiences with landlordism and the minor rich. A particular local example I heard recently: https://www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-lawyer-bought-hu...

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#76

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:53 AM UTC

simianwords wrote: post #63

saikia81 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact you want to keep the current distribution, without considering that it could help many people if changed is a bit ignorant. Just because (without any indication why) you feel that the ones in control are doing well. I'm not seeing substance for these arguments when based on your feelings and presumptions. I wonder how many poor people you've really interacted with. These sentiments are popular on Hacker News…

I’m asking you very clearly how poor people’s consumption would change if you taxed the rich wealth? The wealth is zero sum - you have to take away investments from Amazon etc and drive it into other places. That means Amazon will be smaller, employ fewer people and produce lesser. Why do you think that is necessarily a good thing? If you think that it is, then you can also stop the NASA program and drive all funds t…

You're eliding the distinction between people and businesses. There's no reason Amazon the company would have to be smaller simply because the Bezos fortune was distributed among more people. It didn't get 50% smaller or employ 50% fewer people when he got divorced and had to split the marital property.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#77

Post by FranzFerdiNaN » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:54 AM UTC

norome wrote: post #58

I think it's become popular to talk about the issue of accumulation of wealth, and make this kind of dramatic wealth comparison to point out how uneven the distribution is. I wish wealth wasn't treated so abstractly as if it's some kind of universal measure of evil. I would like to learn about some specific cases of hyper wealthy people and what they are actually up to. Seems like some very rich people do really usef…

> I wish wealth wasn't treated so abstractly as if it's some kind of universal measure of evil.

Wealth equals influence. So yes, it kinda is a measure of evil. It goes so far as Musk turning of Starlink at a critical moment to help the Russians for example. Or buying access to POTUS. Or donating money to groups to help undermine labor rights.

Basically, the type of person that can get this rich is in 99% of all cases also the type of person that doesnt give two shits about other people.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#78

Post by JimmyBuckets » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:54 AM UTC

simianwords wrote: post #26

Rich people having too much wealth is not necessarily that bad a thing because most of the investment is in productive companies. It’s not like they are using their wealth on frivolous consumption. Which means redistribution would only change who controls the investment and not the actual consumption patterns of people. Implication is that poor people will consume the same as before after redistribution with perhaps…

There are a couple of nuanced issues with what you are saying.

1. In our current political system, wealth translates into political power, which can (and is) used to change laws to secure more wealth - just look at the portfolio performance of members of US Congress. Democracy is about putting political power in the vote.

2. Many if not most of our important problems are beyond the ability of one person (or a small group) to tackle - climate change, food security, etc. Having wealth more distributed means that more economic participants are involved in deploying it, and thus greater predictive power per dollar spent.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#79

Post by anal_reactor » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:57 AM UTC

simianwords wrote: post #18

baq wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How else to do it? Don't count debt at all and pretend that if you've borrowed money, you're rich? Calculate EV of that debt - but how and on what timeframe?

Let’s first agree that it’s misleading. A new born baby has more wealth than bottom 1 million peoples wealth cumulatively according to this metric. That’s ridiculous.

Time is money, and newborn baby has shitload of time.

Re: Just 0.001% hold 3 times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

#80

Post by dns_snek » Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 10:59 AM UTC

Gys wrote: post #19

Taxing them will be difficult. There will always be places welcoming them with low taxes if they just spend money. Most of their wealth is probably in companies operating globally. It seems more easy to tax profits in local markets. And increase competition…

Let them. Individuals can move but they can't take their properties or companies with them (in any real sense, they can take a piece of paper with their name on it).