Is class analysis right in our face?

[RadioRaheem84]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/109763/millionaire-population-bounces-back?mod=bb-budgeting


The number of millionaire households in the world has bounced back to boom-time levels, according to a new study.
The 2010 Global Wealth Report by The Boston Consulting Group says there were 11.2 million millionaire households in the world at the end of 2009, a 14% jump from 2008. That puts the millionaire count about where it was in the good old days before the global financial crisis.

The U.S. had especially strong growth, with the number of millionaire households rising to 4.7 million -- still the largest number of millionaire households in the world. That means that roughly 4% of American households are millionaire households. (Singapore had the highest "millionaire density" with 11% of all households being millionaires).

(http://finance.yahoo.com/rates/query?t=s)
The global growth at the top -- driven by last summer's rebound in financial markets -- marks a stark contrast with the continued malaise at the middle and bottom. As a result, inequality around the world has widened.


Since when has the media been this blatant at describing the large disparity of wealth in the world?

Read the rest of the article. They proudly proclaim the number of millionaires and billionaires around the world as "Richistan".

How can anyone deny Marx this day and age?

[DenisDenis]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/109763/millionaire-population-bounces-back?mod=bb-budgeting


Since when has the media been this blatant at describing the large disparity of wealth in the world?

Read the rest of the article. They proudly proclaim the number of millionaires and billionaires around the world as "Richistan".

How can anyone deny Marx this day and age?

I've seen a couple of those news articles over here too...
I think they can do that because they know people dont give a damn as long
as its not them living in slums, and as long as the western countries have
some wealth.
Note that they say "inequality in the world has widened". It feels kinda like
they wanna say everywhere else, but not here.

[Kenco Smooth]

Most people know about the vast disparity of wealth in the world and despite what some of the more paranoid users here might think the media does provide vague coverage of it farely often. The real issue is the general apathy towards changing it. Most people either believe capitalism to be a vital part of 'human nature' and those who are slightly less idiotic often hold capitalism up as some pinacle of rationality that must not be questioned. Very few look for alternatives prefering to take the view that capitalism and the inequality it brings are just sad necesities of the modern world.

[Zanthorus]

Aye, there's tons of these kind of articles all the time. Even the really right-wing newspapers over here like the Daily Mail love to make a fanfare over it to show how New Labour are ignoring the "white working class" to pursue it's policy of multi-culturalism and subverting british society by flooding the country with immigrants (Never mind that Labour are actually quite harsh on Immigration). Just recognising the existence of inequality does not a Marxist make.

[MarxSchmarx]

Perversely, these sorts of stories help entrench the idea that "anybody can become a millionaire." In urban areas of the United States, for example, specialist medical doctors and even dentists routinely can make that much money over a 10 year period even after taxes. Indeed, if one is securely employed, the deflation caused by recessions are not a problem, and if one is a capitalist, there are bargains to be found that could enrich you when business picks up. Worse, articles such as these rarely go on to explain why these gaps exist - for example, by neglecting government policies that favor the rich at the expense of the poor - leaving people continuing to believe that these millionaires are so because of hard work or extraordinary talent.

Further, "class analysis" goes beyond sociological accounting of how many people earn how much. It is that most social phenomena have their origin in the friction between different classes, of which income is only a part of the picture. Until this point is made explicit, we cannot hold much stake in such bland and frankly useless reporting of income gaps.

Finally, a million dollars doesn't go nearly as far as it used to in the global north. There are several communities around major metropolises in America and northwestern Europe where houses routinely sell for 400,000 USD and up. If one includes houses that people own in their assets, it is probably true that what was once considered "upper middle class" is joining the ranks of "millionaires" in rather large numbers. However, this does little to improve their economic security, much less their relations to production. And having said that, there is still 80% of the population for whom all of this is really idle chatter or sophistry.

[Dechristianize]

The study said 83% of the world's households own only 13% of the wealth, down from 14% the previous year. The top 0.5% of households (those with $5 million or more) owned 21%, or $23 trillion, of the world's wealth. That is up from 19% in 2008.
These figures are disheartening. Such inequality! :(

[syndicat]

class isn't defined in terms of income. it's about power over others in social production, and thence in society in general. the most fundamental problem isn't poverty but powerlessness.