This video says about itself:
As countries like Greece and Spain struggle under massive debts that are impoverishing its people, the elites around the world are getting richer and richer. This report looks at the ever widening gap.
“There are customers that have all the way up to 100 vehicles in their garage.” Torsten Muller-Otvos from Rolls Royce tells us. Each one costs about half a million and last year Rolls Royce sold more cars than ever before in their 100-year history, but then the luxury industry knows no crisis. Since 2009 the rich have become on average 6 percent richer. So while one in six Americans now has no health insurance, Manhattan’s 58 billionaires have gotten richer
As Manuel Koch points out the ratio of return expected by the rich has totally shifted, “People used to be happy making three million profit. Today companies like Apple account for 6 billion profit. That’s profit! Not turnover.” But despite their greater income the super-rich aren’t too happy about the idea of their tax loopholes being closed. In their minds they give back, even if it’s not through taxes. “I know a lot of rich friends who have charities…when they reach a certain level they give back to the community. So I think less tax is always better than too much.” But as the world struggles through a financial crisis and the globe-trotting elite continue to grow wealthier, there’s not much evidence they have their communities interests at heart.
By Andre Damon in the USA:
US corporate executives cash in
22 March 2013
As the US government prepares to furlough 1 million federal workers and slash hundreds of billions in social spending, corporate executives in the United States are receiving among the highest payouts in history. USA Today reported Thursday that at least ten CEOs took in $50 million apiece in 2012, largely as a result of cashing in stocks that have soared in value with the rising market. According to the newspaper, “Early 2013 proxy filings detailing 2012 compensation show a growing number of CEOs reaping $50 million or more, gains that could prove unmatched in breadth and size since the Internet IPO craze enriched tech company executives more than a decade ago.”
Related articles
- Once upon a time (but not that long ago), corporations paid taxes (sott.net)
- Once Upon a Time, Corporations Paid Taxes (truth-out.org)
- Charts of the Moment: GOP Protecting Record Corporate Profits and the Rich Getting Richer (bradblog.com)
- Behind the GOP’s Debt and Deficit Talk Is a Scam To Make the Super Rich Even Richer (politicususa.com)
- Too Big to Jail (inthesetimes.com)
- Household Wealth Is Back To Its Pre-Crisis Level, But It’s Mostly Flowing To The Rich (thinkprogress.org)
- Down in the Valley: As rich get richer, poor get poorer in Silicon Valley (theprovince.com)
