The results of this little study caught my eye this evening...

The rich really do own the world
A major study of wealth distribution reveals the richest 2 per cent own more than half of global household assets

ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

For those who aren't wealthy, it seems blindingly obvious that the rich own the world. Now, in a first-ever exhaustive study of global wealth, it's clear just how inequitably the riches are spread around.

The richest 2 per cent of adults own more than half of global household wealth, and almost all of the well-heeled live in North America, Europe and richest Asia-Pacific countries.

"We find there's a lot of inequality, which is what we expected and is not that surprising," said University of Western Ontario economist James Davies, who was a co-author of the study, conducted by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations. "But it turns out, the world distribution of wealth [assets minus debts] is more unequal than the world distribution of income."

Look out, the corrupt U.N. is going to demand that the richest nations contribute even more of their wealth to the poorest nations in order to rectify this injustice. Why else would the U.N. commission a study like this if it's ultimate goal wasn't to take from wealthy countries and give to poor countries in the name of fairness and equality? The most cursory glance at the list of wealthy nations reveals that they represent the most capitalistic, free-enterprise driven economies in the world, while the poorest countries represent the most oppressive, corrupt, evil dictatorships and theocracies on Earth...that's no coincidence. Here's a breakdown of the global wealth holdings but it mirrors roughly the U.S. wealth holdings...

What the rich own:

1% of richest adults own 40% of total global wealth

2% of richest adults own 51% of total global wealth
5% of richest adults Own 71% of total global wealth
10% of richest adults Own 85% of total global wealth

Notice anything familiar about this list? Anybody who pays taxes in the U.S. should recognize these numbers as roughly identical to the percentages of the federal tax burden borne by the wealthy by percent rank. The top 1% of wage earners in America pay about 40% of the taxes collected by the government, and the top 10% pay roughly 85% of the taxes. The bottom 50% of wage earners in the U.S. collectively contribute only 5% of the taxes that are used to pay for the goody bags they get from the government each month...and by "government", I mean fellow tax payers.

Notice how the author of this article conveniently left that morsel out. All liberals want to do is show how the evil rich possess too much wealth and should be forced to give some of it, in the form of high taxes, to the poor, downtrodden of the world. They never acknowledge how much the rich already "give". The consumers of wealth, especially in the U.S., are getting essentially a free ride courtesy of the producers of wealth. No country gives a fraction of charity to it's own poor as well as to the poor of other countries that the U.S. does, yet the America-hating liberals here and at the U.N. can never get enough.

I've asked it before, and I'll ask it again...why are we in the United Nations?