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Author Topic: Meet the rich
Doug
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Babbler # 44

posted 04 August 2008 07:54 PM      Profile for Doug   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
High-earners tend to be elusive, preserving their privacy at home and at work, journeying between them in expensive cars. But in sessions conducted by Ipsos Mori over two evenings we did meet partners in a law firm of international renown and senior staff from equally world-famous merchant banks. Their business is money, and they make it: the law partners earned between £500,000 and £1.5m per year, putting them in the top 0.1% of earners in the UK, while the merchant bankers ranged from £150,000 up to £10m.....

How much, we asked our group, would it take to put someone in the top 10% of earners? They put the figure at £162,000. In fact, in 2007 it was around £39,825, the point at which the top tax band began. Our group found it hard to believe that nine-tenths of the UK's 32m taxpayers earned less than that. As for the poverty threshold, our lawyers and bankers fixed it at £22,000. But that sum was just under median earnings, which meant they regarded ordinary wages as poverty pay.


A little look into the point of view of the wealthy - it's not surprising

The rich just don't think they're all that rich and that social benefits are a lot more generous than they really are. Mind you, you could get that evaluation of government spending from just about anyone.

An interesting part of this is a feature of Canadian society as well - the assumption of the mantle of leadership by financial executives and experts over people with other forms of knowledge.

[ 04 August 2008: Message edited by: Doug ]


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