Rich richer, poor poorer in the Netherlands

This video from the USA says about itself:

Thomas Piketty Discusses, “Capital In The 21st Century” with Ryan Grim and Alexis Goldstein

18 April 2014

Thomas Piketty sits down with HuffPost’s Ryan Grim, to talk about his new book, “Capital In The 21st Century”. The economist also discusses the worldwide wealth gap, the 1%, the problem with large CEO salaries, and offers solutions on how to stop the growing divide between the rich and the poor.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

4 June 2014, 19:04

The gap between rich and poor is widening in the Netherlands. That shows the study ‘How unequal is the Netherlands?‘ (. pdf) of the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR).

Income inequality in the Netherlands is relatively low, if you use the most common measuring method, the Central Bureau of Statistics said this Monday. But if you look in more detail at the figures, then the WRR shows that, quite the contrary, inequality in the Netherlands in Europe precisely is relatively large; bigger than in countries such as Denmark and Belgium.

Wages at the top end have risen from more than 30 times the minimum wage in 1990 to 52 times in 2013 ….

If there is large disparity, then the top layer will have more stress, mental health problems and social mistrust, the WRR report says. Additionally, the large disparity makes it more difficult to climb the social ladder. People who are poor have less chance of wealth. There is growing evidence that inequality reduces economic growth .

Property

Property is distributed more unequally than income in the Netherlands. The richest 10 percent of the population owns more than half (61 percent) of the total assets in the Netherlands. The top 2 percent within this group has even a third of that property in their hands, while the bottom 60 percent of the Dutch population together owns approximately 1 percent of the total assets.

A new report from the US Federal Reserve Board finds that total US net worth has risen to a record $81.8 trillion, up $1.5 trillion in the first quarter of 2014 and up nearly $13 trillion compared to the previous peak, before the 2008 financial crash. This figure belies the incessant claims by the US political and financial elite that there is “no money” to pay for basic social necessities—from jobs and decent wages to schools and other public services. There are ample resources—more than at any time in history—but these resources are monopolized by the narrow layer of ultra-wealthy individuals at the top of American society: here.

The gap between rich and poor in Australia is widening, according to Oxfam Australia research released this week. The Oxfam data punctures Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey’s claims last week at the right-wing Sydney Institute that those pointing to growing social inequality were “misguided” (see: “Australian treasurer defends austerity budget as ‘fair’”): here.

According to the Australian Financial Review, which published the annual BRW Rich 200 List last Friday, “Big wealth is back.” The newspaper celebrated the fact that a tiny layer at the top of society, already awash with staggering amounts of money, has now climbed to new heights in the wake of the 2008 global crash: here.

Who Owns Germany? Documenting the widening gulf between rich and poor: here.