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Angels4

I am 107,565 of the richest people in the world.

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Well, I'm sure it's a bit sobering & does call to mind all those folks in countries that are truly poverty sticken, but it can hardly be accurate if you're only able to be ranked if you earn pounds, US dollars, yen, Canadian dollars or euros. I'd never consider myself wealthy...not by a long chalk...but earning NZ dollars I don't even figure. Hey ho...I'm not complaining, my NZ dollars go far enough to pay the mortgage, feed & clothe us, & even buy the odd bottle of wine, so I've nowt to grumble about, but with so few currencies considered this ain't exactly accurate :wink:

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Unfortunately, the site suffers from the perennial flaw of misapplying the statistics.

 

Money is only a tool to acquire other things, and what makes someone wealthy or not isn't how much money they have, but how much purchasing power. I live in a country where a meal out in a restaurant typically costs between £10 and £20 per head. If I took a couple of weeks' worth of living expenses over to Poland for a holiday, I'd be able to afford to live in much richer circumstances. However, my home is the only place I can earn the amount of money I do, so the comparison between my earning potential here and the spending potential in Poland is erroneous.

 

The only practical measurement that makes real sense is how easily one can afford to buy the things one needs in the area one lives. That picture could then show how plenty of people earning less than me could easily be better off than me in all the senses that matter.

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I agree - income doesn't reflect purchasing power, nor the expectations of what you need to fit in socially in your country of residence. It also doesn't reflect your spending commitments - we've no mortgage so our income stretches a lot further than it did when we had one. It also doesn't reflect your capital assets which can be converted to income if required.

 

However this site DOES bring it home how much more we have in this country than many others.

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I don't earn a penny so by this reckoning i'm the poorest person in the world. However, OH is in the 0.66% at 39,848,590th richest person in the world so i'll guess i'll be nice to him!!

 

Wealth is measured by quality of life and happiness, not money. Maybe we should go the way of the Star Trek world and get rid of all money.

 

We are fortunate to not have a mortgage and a high income so we know how lucky we are. Mind you, i still don't think we should be taxed at 40%, it's pretty galling to hand over 40% of what you own to the benefit scroungers who live in our street. I know that most people on benefits aren't scroungers but most of those in our street are. Why should OH work so many hours so that others don't have to work at all and then the council come and refit their council houses.

 

Sorry for the rant.

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Wealth is measured by quality of life and happiness, not money. Maybe we should go the way of the Star Trek world and get rid of all money.

 

 

I am the poorest person I know in terms of income, but the happiest with my lot, and I find it funny that people only measure happiness by what they can purchase with their money. For me, happiness is finding sloes on the blackthorn (nice big juicy ones) and knowing I'm the first there, or my chickens stumbling, bleary eyed out in the morning when I open the Eglu, watching a blackbird take his fill of pyracanthus berries or walking down the tow path when the canal is frozen, and everything has been kissed by frost :D .

 

I find it funny that I have neighbours who earn five times what I do and are struggling to pay bills whilst I have room to save some of my income for a rainy day, I really will never know what they do with all that money.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with money, just some of mankind's worship of it, if we didn't have money there would have to be some other form of bartering, surely?

 

Oh, and ironically, working for the DWP, I come across folk who receive more in benefit and kind than I do in salary, and never have a penny to spare at the end of the week and moan about being poor, whilst trying to claim for every benefit going to 'up' their income. Will they never learn, happiness doesn't come in a box from Argos!!!

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