If we were to take the money of the worlds weathiest 1%?

Question

And distribute it among poorest 30% of the world, (which would be about 2 billion people)...how much money would every individual receive?

About how much money is the wealthiest 1% holding?

Its just a hypotehtical question, I am not trying to start a capitalist/communist debate.

Answer 1

Try this for starters:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/question237.htm

how much gold in the world?
http://money.howstuffworks.com/question213.htm

difference between cash and value:
http://money.howstuffworks.com/question241.htm


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[Just to point out. Bill Gates has no where near to the number above. No one does. Only governments do.]

The above reply's source is:
World Institute for Development Economics Research (UN)
$125 triliion is "global household wealth"
Richest %1's "owns" %40 of the "household wealth"
[had to be in a $500,000 bracket and up to be in the top%1]

I find it interesting that, quote:
"The richest one per cent of the world's population owns 40 per cent of the total household wealth"
....instead of 'represents' they use the word 'own'....
and, quote:
"the bottom half of the world makes do with barely one per cent" ...the bottom half doesn't seem to 'own' anything, they just 'make do'.
In fact, that is very often the case. Many individuals around the world have never 'owned' assets the way some have. So these figures cannot be accurately be 'represented'
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------------------------a little ranting here--------------
Individuals are not the only entities to hold assets...
Considering that there are many different entities....
[individuals, institutions, companies, and governments]

I mean, the question is asking about redistributing wealth. In which case one must own it first.

So which entities represent the most wealth?




I am currently looking for some other sources for concrete numbers...[
Hoping that the questioner doesnt mind so lengthy a reply...]

Answer 2

The wealthiest 1% have 40% of total wealth which was $125 trillion in 2000 and would be at least $150 trillion today. This would give approximately $60 trillion (equal to 2000 Bill Gates) divided by 2 billion or $30,000 for each

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2006/12/05/globalwealth.html

The collective net worth of the world's 691 billionaires is $2.2 trillion or about 1.5 percent of total which is about the same as the collective wealth of the poorest half. For comparison the GDP of 3 bigest economys in the world is
#1 United States: $11,667,515,000,000
#2 Japan: $4,623,398,000,000
#3 Germany: $2,714,418,000,000
Bill Gates net worth is 52 billion but he is giving most of it to charity as is the next wealthiest Warren Buffet. http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/10/2002/LIR.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2002&passListType=Person&uniqueId=BH69&datatype=Person

Answer 3

The wealthiest 1% is holding hundreds of billions of dollars, but I doubt that it's trillions.
Let's assume that it's a trillion dollars. In the USA, that is one thousand billion. A hundred dollars to 6 billion people would be 600 billion dollars, or 60% of this total. Therefore, 6 billion people would get about 150$ apiece, which is chicken feed.
I fear we would have to plunder a lot more people to benefit anyone in a meaningful way.

Answer 4

thing is, wealthiest 1% would stop doing what they are doing - no Google, no iPod, no blockbuster movies, no top-10 songs, no Harry Potter books.

Answer 5

You can redistribute the wealth, but you can't make people smart or hardworking.

Redistribution of wealth only harms societies. It has never helped them.