Massive redistribution may not work; but the creation of new wealth does....

I

f you are reading this, you’re 

in the top 1% (probably)

BY DANIEL HANNAN

Suppose I were to tell you that the world’s super-rich are pulling further away from the mass of humanity. Suppose I were to cite the latest figures, showing that the top one per cent now own half the world’s wealth while the bottom 50 per cent own just one per cent.

How does that make you feel? Outraged? Envious? All right, maybe that’s putting it too strongly, but the chances are you’re feeling at least a twinge of unease. After all, we are prompted by our genome to define wealth in relative as well as absolute terms. The Bronze Age farmer with a couple of mangy goats wouldn’t have been as attractive to potential mates as his neighbour with teeming flocks and herds. A measure of disquiet over vast wealth disparities is only human.

But suppose I were now to tell you that you might very well be in the top one per cent yourself; and, that, if you’re not, you’re almost certainly in at least the top five per cent. The net assets of the world’s average person, including housing, are worth just £1,950. If your possessions come to £500,000, you’re in the top percentile – a threshold that takes in most London homeowners. If we look at income rather than assets, the one per cent mark is £22,000 a year. Still feeling upset?

I’ve noticed that Leftists try to be as indeterminate as possible when they talk of “making the rich pay”. The rich are constantly invoked – “Tax the rich!” “Eat the rich!” – but rarely identified. A rare exception was the Occupy Movement, which quantified being rich as being in “the one per cent”. But, as we’ve just seen, that definition is wider than you might think. It takes in 17 million Americans and three million Britons – including, almost certainly, many of the protesters.


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