Anyone else see the article in the online edition of the BP today where the chairman of the government-appointed committe on disparities is reported as telling a forum that "1% of the (Thai) populaion holds 60% of the country's wealth and owns 25% of the nation's land title deeds".

I found this absolutely gobsmacking and leads me to despair for the future of this country.

Refer to the table in this link to see what the situation is in other countries.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20181107-what-we-just-dont-understand-about-the-1

 

^ You had best go ahead and "despair" as the situation (social divide) is only going to get worse, with the present "government" who have guaranteed they or there ilk will be staying in power for a long time to come. ???? 

1 hour ago, CGW said:

^ You had best go ahead and "despair" as the situation (social divide) is only going to get worse, with the present "government" who have guaranteed they or there ilk will be staying in power for a long time to come. ???? 

I can only agree. I just never knew it was as bad as it is. I suspect you are right that it is only going to get worse.

1 hour ago, CGW said:

^ You had best go ahead and "despair" as the situation (social divide) is only going to get worse, with the present "government" who have guaranteed they or there ilk will be staying in power for a long time to come. ???? 

Not much different from anywhere else

 

 

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/richest-1-percent-now-own-half-the-worlds-wealth.html

Nov 14, 2017 · Richest 1% now own half the world's wealth. ... The top 1 percent now owns 50.1 percent of the world's wealth, up from 45.5 percent in 2001. ... with 15.3 million people worth $1 million or more.

On the World Bank Gini index, Thailand rates slightly worse than the UK for inequality & somewhat better than the US.

If left to its own resources the situation has no choice than to get worst because there are two classes, not only in Thailand but in the world , the working class and the investment class.

The wealth of the investment  class grows at a higher rate than the wealth of the working class. 

   So for the working class returns (wages) have grown litle or are stagnant where the average stock returns on the S&P over time is 10% 

   Using the rule of 72  if an investment had a return on 10% it will double in value in about  7 years

Throw in the mix automation and AI and the pressures it will provide to working class returns and the advantages it will provide to investment class's wealth growth and one can easily surmise that the current capitalist  economic system IMO is unsustainable.  

Must read book on the subject by Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century

 

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by sirineou

Yes, it's very difficult to change, even in a country like Oz with a strong egalitarian (one-class) culture and, according to OECD figures, one of the 2 or 3 advanced economies with the highest level of redistribution of funds from rich to poorer.

 

Despite all of that, Oz is not all that much ahead of the US in inequality measures.

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