World wealth redistributed

[4GS]

During a discussion this weekend, a friend reckoned that, if all the money in the world today was distributed to all the people in the world so that each and every person got an equal share, within ten years the people who are wealthy/rich today would be rich again

Does anyone else think this is the case? are the poor destined to remain poor? is there a wealth gene?

[jake-the-peg]

I have no doubt he'd be half right - some almost certainly would.

There are personal characteristics like competetiveness and to selfishness which are advantageous in becoming wealthy.

However starting from an affluent or at least average starting point is doubtlessly valuable too.

If all the rich people in the world were suddenly exchanged with the poorest - richest for poorest - I doubt quite so many would rise to regain their former status.

Also many got an opportunity, recognised it and grabbed it. Such opportunities do not present themselves to everybody and there's a certain degree of luck in being at the right place at the right time.

Of course many self made people don't like this idea and tend not to attribute any of their sucess to luck but that's a bit of a self fulfilling prophesy - a bit like lottery winners feeling that they were always destined to win.

[Hermia]

I'm not sure the people who just inherited their wealth would get rich again as they might not have the necessary skills, but the people who got rich in the first place because they are entrepreneurs or skilled at investment might. I guess some of the poor would stay poor either because they don't have the knowledge/education to manage their finances or because they are just ********.

I think a whole lot of people would just end up comfortably in the middle.

[Hermia]

Apparantly the word that rhymes with neckless, but has a 'f' at the beginning is rude!

[4candles]

Hermia
Only in Ireland, surely?

[WaldoMcFroog]

If you gave �X to someone with a half decent education, and a knowledge of contemporary banking/ money systems and the same amount to an illiterate subsistance level farmer... Well, it's not hard to see why the money would tend to come back to the existing rich.

It's certanly not about some underlying genetic disposition as it is about education and opportunity.

[Loosehead]

There are always going to be those that do better than others when starting from the same place. So I think he is correct, we would revert back to rich and poor but it may not necessarily be the same people as before. There is an inherent human nature that means that some do better than others, people are inherently selfish, that's why socialism/communism fail, they require human nature be overridden.

[Loosehead]

There are people who are beyond help, look at that plonker who won 11m on the lottery, last I heard he's skint! He had a huge leg up in life and still screwed up!

[legend002]

Some might say the illiterate farmer might place his money in the hands of someone qualified to handle it.Carrying on his simple farming life.Thus his money in theory would grow whilst he carried on his simple life.Many folk win the lottery and spend very little , carry on working and leave it invested.A lot of rich like americas kennedys and some of the british aristocracy got their money through stealing , and illegal activities going back to the last century and centuries before.Old money is usually someone elses money cunningly taken from them

.As for a rich gene i very much doubt it.