The rich get richer

The global ranks of the filthy rich were swelled by almost 2 million people last year. The annual Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management World Wealth Report estimates that the number of “high net worth individuals” (HNWI) – which it defines as those with investible assets of US$1 million or more – grew by 15 percent to 13.7 million.

Not only are the numbers of these parasitic life forms expanding, but their wealth is also growing. The combined total reached a record high of US$52.62 trillion, up from US$46.22 trillion in 2012. Over the past five years, these “have mores” increased their share of the global pie by nearly US$20 trillion.

North America and the Asia-Pacific are leading the way. The Asia-Pacific is expected to have the largest HNWI population sometime this year and the most wealth by 2015.

Some are more super rich than others. Despite numbering only 128,000 – just 0.9 percent of the total HNWI population – the “ultra-HNWIs”, who hold more than US$30 million in investible assets, have accrued more than one-third of global HNWI wealth.

Wealth fads

It’s difficult to imagine what one person could do with so much money (aside from solve world hunger, maybe), but the rich are obviously more creative than the rest of us. Despite austerity and social crisis in Europe and elsewhere around the world, the global market for personal luxuries continues to grow.

Headlines such as “Luxury goods market holding up despite economic uncertainty” show that while the economic crisis has provoked a massive capitalist attack on the living standards of the working class and poor, the rich aren’t letting it get them down. According to last year’s World Wealth Report, a rich person’s preferred “investment of passion” in 2012 included jewellery, gems, watches and art. But fashions in HNWI spending can be as volatile year to year as the financial markets.

In 2013, “social impact” was in vogue. Apparently, health, education and children’s causes became “top priorities” for HNWIs. Roughly one-third of HNWIs allocate “resources” – a vague term for money, time or expertise – toward each. Presumably, lecturing poor people would count as time and expertise.

What rich people actually consider charitable ranges from donations and volunteering to investment and business decision making with “social good in mind”. The report states that while no single “mechanism” stood out, making investment choices with the intent to create positive social impact was rated as the most important method of “giving back”, beating out the more old-fashioned idea of charitable donations and volunteering.

The new generation of elites finds it less fashionable to play philanthropist. Twenty-nine percent of HNWIs over the age of 60 consistently give to charity; only 13 percent of those under 40 do likewise. “[Y]ounger HNWIs are more inclined to adopt the newer approach of tying social goals into business decisions” – in other words, making money by pretending to give a damn.

Bloated with cash

While conspicuous consumption is a matter of taste, “good business” is always what drives the decisions of the rich. The report shows that they are confident that they will accrue even more wealth. They call it, ingeniously, “wealth growth”. In case you were wondering, it has nothing to do with getting a job.

Al Jazeera reported earlier this year that US corporations are making record profits – but they are hoarding them in the equivalent of a corporate mattress.

Companies also like to hoard cash offshore, which means that multinationals can siphon profits from a country and delay paying taxes – sometimes indefinitely. Using 2013 data from the US Federal Reserve, Al Jazeera estimated that US corporations hold liquid assets equal to more than two years’ worth of US federal government spending.

While the rich tell the rest of us to tighten our belts, they spend their money on gems and sit on piles of cash.

According to a June 2014 report on wages, income and wealth in the US, the top 1 percent of US households doubled their share of national income between 1979 and 2007. Income growth since 2007 has also been extremely unequal. Profits have reached record highs and the stock market has boomed. However, the wages of most workers have declined since the global financial crisis.

Not so for CEOs. The average CEO compensation was $15.2 million in 2013, up 21.7 percent from 2010. Long term trends are even starker. From 1978 to 2013, CEO compensation in real terms increased 937 percent – more than double stock market growth and much greater than the 10 percent growth in a typical worker’s pay over the same period.