The greedy thieving lying cheats

Four Psychology professors from the University of California at Berkeley and a Business professor from the University of Toronto—conducted two “naturalistic” field studies to determine if the rich were more likely to break the law while driving, and five laboratory studies gauging upper-class attitudes and propensities toward unethical decision-making. In all seven studies, the rich subjects behaved more unethically and harbored positive opinions of greed that helped justify their selfishness.

The results were that the rich are more likely to break traffic laws, to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies, to take things of value from others, to lie in a negotiation, to cheat to win a game, and to endorse unethical behavior at work, than were lower-class individuals. Moreover, the data showed that a positive attitude toward greed was the main driver for the wealthy’s tolerance of and participation in unethical conduct.

Quote of the day

Anthony Seldon, headmaster of Wellington College, complains that his pupils are suffering unreasonable discrimination. He claimed there are 62 pupils at Wellington bright enough to get an Oxbridge interview this year, but said he only expects 20 offers of places to come in.
He said: “From our perspective it looks as if some public school students are being discriminated against"

The rich seem to think their offspring are entitled to a place at the Oxbridge

It's odds on you'll stay poor

The Sunday Times Rich List reveals there are five billionaires living in Scotland.

The richest man in Scotland with £1.6billion remains Mahdi al-Tajir, who owns mineral water firm Highland Spring. His wealth has risen by £50million in the last year,

In second place is the Grant and Gordon family who own the William Grant and Sons whisky distillery. Their wealth increased by £450million to £1.4billion.

At third, Alastair Salvesen, of the  Glasgow plant hire firm Aggreko. His fortune is £1.3billion, up £460million from last year.

Oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood’s with £1.2billion is in 4th position

Engineering magnate Jim McColl, has assets of £1billion.

While ordinary people struggle to make ends meet, the total number of Scots on the list of the UK’s 1000 wealthiest people has risen from 70 to 74.

Of course, it could have been you. Largs couple Colin and Chris Weir after their £161million EuroMillions win are the 23rd richest people in Scotland - at odds of over 116 million to one.

Britain's '101 Wealthiest Asians 2012'

LN Mittal and his family continue to head the list at £13.5 billion.

The Hindujas, whose activities span from transport to oil, have seen their fortune improve further with a wealth of £9.5 billion during the year, up by £ 500 million, are second in the list.

Anil Agarwal chairman of Vedanta Group is third in the list with a fortune of £3.2 billion

Lord Swraj Paul chairman of Caparo and Chancellor of Westminster and Wolverhampton Universities is 7th in the list with a wealth of £675 million, up by £75 million from 201

rich list 2011

The 2011 Sunday Times Rich List, published this weekend, reveals that the 1,000 wealthiest people in the country are now worth a combined £395.8 billion, equivalent to more than a third of the national debt.

The number of billionaires has risen from 53 to 73, while nine people have seen their fortunes rise by £1 billion or more during the past 12 months alone.

Britain’s 10 Largest Fortunes (in billions of pounds)

1. Lakshmi Mittal and Family Steel 17.5
2. Alisher Usmanov Steel, Mines 12.4
3. Roman Abramovich Oil 10.3
4. The Duke of Westminster Property 7
5. Ernesto and Kitty Bertarelli Pharmaceuticals 6.9
6. Leonard Blavatnik Industry 6.2
7. John Fredriksen and family Shipping 6.2
8. David and Simon Reuben Property 6.2
9. Gopichand and Srichand Hinduja Industry 6
10. Galen and George Weston Retail 6

The Scottish Rich

Scotland's richest have increased their fortunes. The Sunday Times Rich List found Highland Spring and Park Hotels owner Mahdi al-Tajir is still the wealthiest Scot, with a fortune of £1,550 million, up £50m in a year. Sir Ian Wood and his family remain at number two, with an increase of £157m from their oil services and fishing business.

With a combined fortune of £18.257 billion, many of Scotland's richest 100 men and women have seen their fortunes increase in the past year. The top multi-millionaires added a combined £60.2bn to their £395.8bn wealth.

The Daily Record provided lesson on capitalist economics - the rich get richer while the poor get poorer .

This is how it comes about. On a simple level, if you have money, you're earning interest. If you have loans, you're paying interest. The result is that the rich are always moving forwards while the poor are always going backwards - and bear in mind that there are different speeds involved. If the rich are earning five per cent interest on their money, the poor are probably paying around 25 per cent on their loans.

If you are poor, you have lost control. If you're rich, you have it and you use it to spread your money around. If you are poor, you have lost control. If you're rich, you have it and you use it to spread your money around.

This is the first rule of wealth creation - diversify. Sell shares if you think the stock market looks ropey and buy something else - gold or shares in an Indian computer company. People with little money tend to have most of it invested in UK shares and their wealth rises or falls with the market. Not the rich. They spread their money between a wide range of investments to make sure that if one is falling, another is rising.

Our economy may have been feeble for a few years, but there have been plenty of countries that have been powering ahead. If you switched your money from here to Brazil in 2008, you'd be patting yourself on the back. If we in the UK are suffering because of high oil prices, why not buy oil futures that give you a profit as the price goes up? The simple fact is that while one market is weak, another is strong. If you have wealth, you can keep your fingers in as many financial pies as possible. The rich do this with their personal money and businesses. Very few top people have stayed in one small area of the business world. They recognise they have to make money in recessions as well as boom times and diversify accordingly. It's all about swings and roundabouts.

The second way the rich make money in a recession is by switching from buying to selling. Professional investors can make money on falling markets just as they can on rising markets. Buying shares is simply a bet they will go up in price. Professionals can make similar bets that pay out if the market falls.

And they can also insure themselves. If they have a couple of million invested in the stock market, they can pay a premium and if the market does fall, the policy pays out. Heads they win, tails you lose.

There are quite a few bankers in the Rich List, but they've set themselves up so that they can make money no matter what. As long as markets move, there's money to be made. Commodity traders are also there in abundance. The Chinese economy has handed them huge profits as it consumed the world's commodity reserves.

Many have "inheritance" as an explanation for their wealth. The Duke of Westminster has got £7billion and a lot of it from property.

rich list

The Sunday Times Rich List has just been published and makes interesting reading.

67 Scots in the top 1,000 against 64 last year. The 100 richest Scots, are worth £16.15 billion, up 15.1% on last year’s £14.03 billion.

the rich list

Credit crunch ...food inflation ...property price crash ...Yet the UK's super-rich have never been richer reports the BBC . The richest 1,000 people in Britain have seen their wealth quadruple under Labour, according to The Sunday Times Rich List published today.
The top 1,000 richest people in the country now have more than £400 billion between them, it estimates - up almost £53 billion in the last year. A fortune of £80m is needed to be one of Britain's richest 1,000 people - up from £70m in 2007.

Philip Beresford, who has compiled the list since it was first published in 1989, said: "Until now, the 11 years of Labour government have proved a boon for the super-rich, rarely seen before in modern British history..."

“The 11 years of Labour have been absolutely fantastic for the super-rich,” said Philip Beresford, “Having a friendly Labour government has almost been better than having a Tory one..."

RICH LIST TOP 10
Lakshmi Mittal, steel (£27.7bn)
Roman Abramovich, oil and industry (£11.7bn)
The Duke of Westminster, property (£7bn)
Sri and Gopi Hinduja, Industry and finance (£6.2bn)
Alisher Usmanov, Steel and mines (£5.7bn)
Ernesto and Kirsty Bertarelli, pharmaceuticals (£5.6bn)
Hans Rausing and family, packaging (£5.4bn)
John Fredriksen, shipping (£4.6bn)
Sir Philip and Lady Green, retailing (£4.3bn)
David and Simon Reuben, property (£4.3bn

Rich Pickings

Been a while since Socialist Courier revealed the take home pay of the the rich . So we now point to Stewart Milne who maintained his position as one of Scotland's best-paid directors by taking home more than £7.5m in salary, benefits and dividends . Between them, the company's directors shared pay and benefits of £4.4m, of which more than one-third, £1,547,498, was taken by Milne. The company also paid out dividends of £6.2m, of which £6m went to Milne himself.

Milne's total pay packet has actually fallen from last year when he was a beneficiary of a £10.8m package, but £5m of that was in the form of a pension contribution.

Nothing like whatis available in Wall St though .

According to the Independent "The young guns at the investment bank Goldman Sachs – none of them over 40 years old – were unmasked yesterday, prompting a wave of adulation and envy among their colleagues, and another bout of handwringing about Wall Street's ability to make multibillion-dollar profits even as millions of ordinary people face losing their homes

Dan Sparks and two underlings, Josh Birnbaum and Michael "Swenny" Swenson, placed what were in effect giant bets against the US mortgage market at the start of the year and watched their winnings tick higher and higher as the rising numbers of mortgage defaults spiralled into a worldwide financial crisis.

The trio themselves are in line for bonuses of about $10m apiece from a record bonus pool at Goldman of about $19bn

Tax and the rich 2

More than a third of Scottish farms sold this year have been snapped up by cash-rich businesspeople anxious to avoid paying inheritance tax .

According to the annual Scottish Estates Review by property agency Strutt & Parker, the number of farm buyers who cite IHT as a reason for their purchase reached 36% this year.

Prime Scottish arable land has now more than doubled in value since 2004, selling for at least £3,500 an acre, compared with £1,600 three years ago. Farmers have traditionally been allowed to pass on their land to their children without the value being calculated for inheritance tax purposes. Any assets above a threshold of £283,000 are normally taxed at a rate of 40%, but farms are excluded so that they do not have to be split up to pay death duties.

But the tax break is now being exploited by wealthy investors.

"These are people with maybe £20m, £30m or £40m and they are looking for ways to shield that money from IHT in the future. They are buying farms and sheltering some of their money that way." Strutt & Parker's farm sales specialist said "You can't let the land go unmanaged but you can employ a manager, so investors don't even need to get their hands dirty."

The Super-Star Super-Rich

A report by the BBC on those super rich super-stars .

England captain Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup in 1966 he earned £100 a week. Today's England captain, John Terry, holds the same position, but reportedly earns over £130,000 a week. David Beckham earned over £11 million from endorsements alone last year.

Then there are humble cooks like Gordon Ramsay , wealth of nearly £70 million , James Oliver , almost £60 million .

Superstars are boosting the luxury goods market, with worldwide sales in the sector topping £75 billion last year. Its all Aston Martins and private jets .

Naturally , the apologists of this insane distribution of riches claim that there are the benefits of the "trickle-down effect " but other commentators are more observant .

"Although these are people who will clearly have significant interests here in the UK and invest here in the UK, they're also looking to place their money around the world," said Mr Charrington , head of Citi's UK private banking arm , adding that the super-rich are looking for opportunities in China, India and Latin America "whether that be in private equity or hedge fund businesses. "

The BBC Money Programme produced a few interesting facts . 1% of the British population controls nearly 25% of the wealth. The top 10% in the UK having nearly 7 times the disposable income of the bottom 10%, up from only 3 times in the mid 1970s.( In the US, for example, 1% of the population control almost 40% of wealth and 20% of income.)

The lowering of the top rate of UK income tax from 98% to 40% in that time, with businessmen and women now able to turn income into capital gains paying a special low rate of 10%, has also widened the gap between after tax pay of high and low earners. For many foreign-born super stars, London is a tax haven, with non-domicile status meaning that they don’t have to pay UK tax at all – apart from council tax.

Fancy a drink ?

The businessman's night out with friends started quietly enough with a £25 bottle of wine. It ended a few hours later with a bar bill for £105,805.
In between, the businessman and his circle of friends, which had swelled by closing time, had polished off 80 bottles of champagne, including a six-litre methuselah of Cristal worth £30,000 and a £9,600, three-litre jeroboam . The bill for champagne alone came to more than £80,000. One bottle of vodka cost £1,400.

The celebration took place at Crystal in Marylebone, central London, a nightclub launched with the help of Prince William and Prince Harry's friend Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe.
A favourite with the horsey set, its founding members include Lady Victoria Hervey and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

Consumed: one methuselah of Cristal (£30,000); two jeroboams of Cristal (£9,600), 36 bottles of Cristal (£12,960); six magnums of Dom Perignon (£4,200); 12 bottles of Dom Perignon Rose (£4,200); 15 bottles of Dom Perignon 1999 (£3,600), three magnums of Dom Perignon 1995 (£2,700) and four bottles of Cristal Rose (£2,400) and a nightcap of vodka, a Belvedere Methuselah, the equivalent of eight bottles.

I wonder if it was all tax deductable .

Gap between rich and poor 'could cause riots'

One of Britain’s richest men has given warning that the gap between rich and poor could eventually lead to violence and rioting on the streets.
Sir Ronald Cohen, founder of Apax Partners, the private equity firm, and a close ally of Gordon Brown, said in an interview that if people are “left behind” in the race to accumulate riches, Britain could see a repeat of the Paris riots two years ago.

Sir Ronald Cohen , a big Labour donor who has an estimated £260 million fortune, highlighted his concerns about the future for Britain’s haves and have-nots, saying that the widening gap was "something to be concerned about".
He said: “Entrepreneurial economies which have high rates of growth and high rates of job creation do lead to great divergences in wealth.When economic situations get bad, it takes a spark to ignite a violent reaction.”
His spokesman told the newspaper later: “He was referring to how when people get left behind, when young men get left behind, for economic or welfare reasons, it can lead to violence, such as during the riots in Paris.”

As reported in the Daily Telegraph , of the 400 hundred people thought to be paid more than £10 million a year in dividends, interest, rents and profits , only 65 face income tax bills, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

We in the Socialist Party fully understand the frustrations of the working class when we all witness the inequalities of society , but we would counsel our fellow workers to use their political power to do away with Capitalism , rather than futilely take to the streets .

Rich List and P*ssed

With the imminent publication of The Times 2007 Rich List , there will be many commentaries on it . The first i have read is from the BBC .

The fortunes of Britain's wealthiest 1,000 people grew 20% in a year .

The UK Office for National Statistics reported that average UK earnings including bonuses rose by 4.6 % in the year to February 2007 . Average earnings excluding bonuses on regular pay, rose by 3.6 % . The retail price index measure of inflation stands presently at 4.8%.

The £19 billion fortune of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal ensured he kept his title as Britain's richest person. Mr Mittal's fortune grew more than £4 billion from from £14.8 billion in 2006 .

The Duke of Westminster fortune grew from £6.6 billion to £7 billion.

Once again , the figures irrefutably confirm that the capitalist class are becoming increasingly richer and the working class are growing poorer and poorer .

That's Rich

Continuing our seemingly never-ending posts on those of the capitalist class who have never had it so good , The Herald reports that 15 chief executives earned a basic salary and benefits package of £1million or more in the latest financial year .
Top of the list for the third year running is private Aberdeen housebuilder Stewart Milne. £200,000-a-week package, half of which comprised pension contributions . Then there is
Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, on £3.9million a year .
I won't depress you with the full list .

The TUC reports , the total remuneration for directors of FTSE top 100 companies has gone up by 105 per cent more than the cost of living and has increased 17 times faster than average pay .
In addition , directors of the UK's top 100 companies have amassed pensions worth nearly £1 billion between them . On average they can retire at 60 on a final salary pension worth nearly £3 million. The largest directors' pension in each company is worth nearly £5 million , over 40 times more than most staff pensions.

What pension crisis ??

"Its a wonderful world" - for some

The Independent On Sunday today carries a report about the wealthy in the UK .

According to Tulip Financial Research, Britain has some 135,000 "high-net-worth" individuals, with liquid assets averaging £6.4millions . They are described as HNWs. People with tens of millions are UHNWs: ultra-high-net-worths.

Forbes magazine declared London to be the official billionaire's playground of the Western world, with 23 dollar billionaires .

The chef's table at Claridges, run by Gordon Ramsay, is the holy grail of the expense-account blowout - and it's booked up well into next year.
"It seats up to six, and the minimum spend is £550," says a spokesman. "Most bills are nudging £1,000 because they go for pretty decent wines. It's flying, though, as the place for City boys to celebrate or entertain clients. Things have never been better."

Stratstones of Mayfair, an Aston Martin dealership, report a six-month waiting list. "For some customers, it's a whim," says one salesman. "Others say, 'I haven't got that model in my collection.' It's a wonderful world."

At Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, Britain's poshest place to play, the membership lists are full; any new players are faced with a hefty bill for horseflesh. "To play at the low goal level, you need at least five or six ponies," says a spokesman. "But you can double or treble that for high goal. A polo pony will go for around £25,000 but at the top level people just keep hold of the best ones; they're priceless."

HNW tastes hark back to a bygone era. They have been partly responsible for a renaissance of the servant class. "The British would say, 'Here's Annie, who does the cleaning', but try to pretend she wasn't a servant," notes one domestic agent."These people have bought servants back with a vengeance. Filipino, Eastern European, whatever. They believe in servants, they want lots of them, and they want to jolly well dress them in uniforms and call them servants."

The capital's oldest families are still some of the wealthiest. Richard Beresford, compiler of The Sunday Times Rich List says that these people, "will be on the Rich List until an atomic bomb hits London or a Bolshevik revolution strips them of their assets".

The Duke of Westminster is Britain's third richest man and London's most powerful landlord, with a £6.6billion fortune. Roman Abramovich's swanky Belgravia address pales in comparison to the Duke's 100 acres of Mayfair and 200-acre Belgravia estates. Coming in second is the Earl of Cadogan, below, whose £1.9billion fortune includes 90 acres of Chelsea. And of course there are the royal parasitical princes , William and Harry, who have £30 million fortunes and now Charles plans to build for William a classically inspired six-bedroom two-storey house - less of a starter home, and more a starter palace.

Michael Spencer's wife hired Robbie Williams at a reported cost of £1million to sing at her husband's 50th birthday party. Spencer, CEO of InterCapital, is said to have been paid £5million in bonuses last year.

Madonna's decided to buy a £35,000 chinchilla fur coat from a Fendi store in Knightsbridge recently. She also splashed out on a brand new £3.6million venue for her fellow British Kabbalah followers .

Philip Green has amassed £3.6billion through a retail empire, including Bhs and the Arcadia Group.He spent millions on a three-day Bar Mitzvah for his son, with live concerts by Andrea Bocelli and Destiny's Child, and erected a giant synagogue in the garden, designed by his wife, Tina.

It's Us and Them - the Capitalist Class and the Working Class .