WalMart Heirs Have Same Net Worth As the Bottom 30 Percent Of Americans

[dreamdancer 0]

of course they earned every penny...

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Income inequality in the U.S. is currently the highest its been since the 1920s, with the 400 richest Americans (who are all billionaires) having as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of Americans combined. And as it turns out, just one wealthy family has managed to amass a fortune equal to that of the combined net worth of the bottom 30 percent of Americans — the Waltons, heirs to the WalMart fortune, as Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics, found:

The triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is one of the best sources for data on wealth in the U.S. And, of course the Forbes 400 estimates the worth of the wealthiest amongst us—all 400 wouldn’t be captured in the SCF. If we look at both the SCF and the Forbes 400 we can glean some interesting insights.

In 2007 (the most recent SCF) the cumulative wealth of the Forbes 400 was $1.54 trillion or roughly the same amount of wealth held by the entire bottom fifty percent of American families. This is a stunning statistic to be sure.

Upon closer inspection, the Forbes list reveals that six Waltons—all children (one daughter-in-law) of Sam or James “Bud” Walton the founders of Wal-Mart—were on the list. The combined worth of the Walton six was $69.7 billion in 2007—which equated to the total wealth of the entire bottom thirty percent!

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/09-6

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[devildog 0]

We should just take away all their money and sell of any and all assets. That'll teach them for being born!

You stop breathing for a few minutes and everyone jumps to conclusions.

[pirana 0]

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We should just take away all their money and sell of any and all assets. That'll teach them for being born!

I wouldn't go that far; but they are a shining example of why buyer-beware capitalism combined with a corporate ruling class is not a sustainable model.

They appear to be completely deviod of ethics. They have broken so many laws we know about that it is probably a safe bet they've broken many many more. Great for the owners of capital - sucks for most everybody.

IMO, they are the poster child for what's wrong with our economy.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[shah269 0]

what is their tax rate? Anyone know?

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[masterrig 1]

Sam Walton's idea was to sell only American made goods. The kids took over when he passed away and went totally Chinese products. I cannot stand going to a Wal-Mart. You get run-over or crashed into. People tear-up the aisles and kids run around like it's a playground. Like you said, when Sam was running it, it was a good place to buy.


Chuck

[tkhayes 140]

easy solution if you do not like it - don't shop there. Even I agree with the right on that one. I do not shop at Wal-mart unless I have no other place to buy the stuff I need.

I go out of my way to spend the few extra dollars ont he smaller and the local merchants.

[normiss 624]

Thanks TK.
I wish more people would do this!

[dreamdancer 0]

or unionise it - get fair wages and lobby to increase inheritance tax so that their kids can't get the same net worth as the bottom 60% of americans...

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[nanook 1]

what's wrong with having that much money?

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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what's wrong with having that much money?

There is another website I browse similar to this DZ.COM site, except this other site is pretty much the best place to go for North American owners of a certain high end German automobile maker. I don't consider myself a poor person in this world. Compared to the real poor people, I am rich. But compared to many of the people of this other website, I am definitely less affluent than they are. Today I discovered one of the users of this other website is a professional baseball pitcher with the Anaheim Angels. If I dedicated more time in my youth to being better at a certain sports, maybe I too could have become a professional athlete who makes millions. Or I could simply be like the OP of this thread (or like all the other "Occupy" wankers) and just say "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, I want your stuff".

Don't like WalMart? Isn't it easier to just NOT shop at WalMart? If enough people stopped shopping there don't you think they might be forced into changing their ways. Whoever told you life would be easy, was clearly lying to you. BTW this last comment was generic. It was not directed at nanook.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[dreamdancer 0]

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what's wrong with having that much money?

There is another website I browse similar to this DZ.COM site, except this other site is pretty much the best place to go for North American owners of a certain high end German automobile maker. I don't consider myself a poor person in this world. Compared to the real poor people, I am rich. But compared to many of the people of this other website, I am definitely less affluent than they are. Today I discovered one of the users of this other website is a professional baseball pitcher with the Anaheim Angels. If I dedicated more time in my youth to being better at a certain sports, maybe I too could have become a professional athlete who makes millions. Or I could simply be like the OP of this thread (or like all the other "Occupy" wankers) and just say "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, I want your stuff".

Don't like WalMart? Isn't it easier to just NOT shop at WalMart? If enough people stopped shopping there don't you think they might be forced into changing their ways. Whoever told you life would be easy, was clearly lying to you. BTW this last comment was generic. It was not directed at nanook.

and look what the wankers are doing with their unearned wealth...

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Not only have the Waltons gathered a fortune equal to that of the bottom third of the country, but they spend it lobbying to cut their own taxes. For years, the Waltons have been supporting efforts to cut the estate tax, the tax levied on inheritance. Conservatives intent on cutting this tax — which they’ve brilliantly dubbed the “death tax” — led to President Obama agreeing to a “compromise” last year that lowered the rate and increased the tax-free exemption, giving a senseless tax break to extremely wealthy families.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/12/09-6

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
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[CanuckInUSA 0]

Do you hate the Waltons so much because they acted like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp7_u0kcQRo

or maybe your hate for the Waltons runs deeper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1YU1tTet24

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[tonyhays 86]

*yawn*

Another post by DD that whines about people having more money than him.

Your posts used to be entertaining. Now you're just boring.

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

[dreamdancer 0]

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I tend not to like inheritance taxes all around. I've found that people that like them generally don't have any money to pass down to heirs, so they're all for it.

and these wankers got their money for free and are spending a fortune getting the government to tax us instead of them...

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[mirage62 0]

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yawn*
Another post by DD that whines about people having more money than him.
Your posts used to be entertaining. Now you're just boring.

+1
His best work lately it the title of the thread, after that it pretty much the same old bs.

Off subject I do like the fact that the family added together is worth more that Bill Gates. I guess cause software is so cool and selling shit cheap isn't that glamorus.

Kevin Keenan is my hero, a double FUP, he does so much with so little

[lawrocket 3]

Looks like you've sold out Alternet in favor of commiedreams now.

[Quote]In 2007 (the most recent SCF) the cumulative wealth of the Forbes 400 was $1.54 trillion

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Note that the 2007 wealth wouldn't even be able to cover the federal deficit for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

You could confiscate all the wealth in the USA and it would barely pay for one year of the US government's spending in 2011. This is fine and dandy for paying for the government's spending on one year, but what happens in year two or so on moving forward when there is no more wealth to confiscate. Fast forward to the 2:44 mark of the video referenced below if you want to skip a short Michael Moore speech which is rich on hypocrisy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[lawrocket 3]

If your intention is to create a society with no classes then you have to destroy wealth. Ever notice that dreamdancer never discusses how to improve the plight of poverty? He doesn't speak of improving anybody. This is because he implicitly understands that poverty cannot be cured.

This means that only option remaining is that the wealthy be destroyed. He doesn't write about anything other than destroying wealth. The only way a society can be without class stratification is to ensure that everybody it in poverty. Equal misery is equality, and the ultimate goal of the common dream.

The end game is equal misery for all.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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The end game is equal misery for all.

Capitalism is far from perfect, but I have to laugh at all those people who call for equality. Since when in human history has there ever been equality? Equality did not exist in the stone age and it did not ever occur at anytime during our human evolution. So why do people think it will happen now? Nature is not equal. In nature the strong eat the weak. The planet will continue to evolve long after humans are gone. Regardless of what the "Climate Change" religious nut cases say, life on this planet will continue to evolve for many billions of years up until that big ball in the sky 93 million miles from us burns up.

I don't think we will see it in my lifetime (I will be lucky to get 30 more years on this planet), but I am convinced the way academia is working towards indoctrinating future generations that Global Communism all in the name of saving the world from "Climate Change" is coming.

Yes comrade soon we will all be equal, equally screwed.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[dreamdancer 0]

ok kids - a call for a decent inheritance tax is not a call for imposed equality...

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
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[kelpdiver 2]

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ok kids - a call for a decent inheritance tax is not a call for imposed equality...

Since Sam Walton formed a Family Limited Trust decades before (1953) his death, it doesn't matter what the inheritance tax rate is.

Of course, if the Walton heirs only had the same wealth as the bottom 20%, you'd still be complaining. Also worth noting is that their combined assets were 80B at the 2007 peak, and less than 30 at the time Sam died.

[dreamdancer 0]

why are the children intent on doing away with inheritance tax then?

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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ok kids - a call for a decent inheritance tax is not a call for imposed equality...

There you go with your inheritance tax increases again. You may think that giving government more money is the solution to all the world's problems, but it rarely is.

There is a big kerfuffle going on in Canada these last couple of weeks with the Leftist media leading the charge. In Canada we have the "Indian Act" where billions and billions of tax payers money each year is sent to some 600+ or so Indian reservations spread out across the land and all Natives who live on these reservations are supposedly allowed to live without having to work and do not need to pay one red cent of tax back to the country. Sounds like the socialist's wet dream where people are given everything they could possibly need for free. But yet many of the natives are living in 3rd world poverty conditions. How could this be? We the tax payers send them billions and billions of free money every year. But what is happening is the Indian Leadership are poorly managing this money and in many cases skimming off of the top making sure those around them are living the easy life while the people below them are dirt poor. When the Indians are told that 3rd parties must now come in to the reserves to perform audits to account for where the money has gone, the reaction from the Indians has been "You do that and there will be civil disobedience, no just give us more money". Of course the Leftist media is demanding more money to be given to the Indians with no new calls for accountability. WTF ... giving money to the government (in this case the local Indian governments) has not solved the poverty problems and Canada is too spineless to call the Indians out on their calls for civil disobedience since everyone knows the Indians are armed to the teeth where they are more powerful than the police and the army. It is a big joke. Throwing more money at a problem without accountability just creates more problems. Big Government is not the solution.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[dreamdancer 0]

you don't 'give' money to the government. it is 'taken' in taxation. the 1% will not give - so it has to be taken...

stay away from moving propellers - they bite
blue skies from thai sky adventures
good solid response-provoking keyboarding

[rehmwa 2]

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You may think that giving government more money is the solution to all the world's problems, but it rarely is.

I don't really think that's his position. He really just doesn't want anyone to be allowed to save or take care of their kids and grandkids.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants