No-one is so miserable as the poor person who maintains the appearance of wealth. Charles Spurgeon
It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent. W Somerset Maugham
Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. Noam Chomsky
One per cent of the population/households owns about a half of the stock. Noam Chomsky, lecture 1999, ‘Case Studies in Hypocrisy: US Human Rights Policy, Rhetoric and Practice’
By the end of World War II the dominance had shifted decisively into the hands of the upstart across the sea, the United States, by far the most powerful and wealthy society … The United States had literally half the world’s wealth. Noam Chomsky, lecture University of Massachusetts at Amherst 27 September 2012, ‘Who Owns the World? Resistance and Ways Forward’
The ten principles of the concentration of wealth and power: Concentration of wealth yields concentration of power … (1) Reduce Democracy; (2) Shape Ideology; (3) Redesign the Economy; (4) Shift the Burden; (5) Attack Solidarity; (6) Run the Regulators; (7) Engineer Elections; (8) Keep the Rabble in Line; (9) Manufacture Consent; (10) Marginalize the Population. Noam Chomsky, Requiem for the American Dream, F-Movies 2017
We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. George Bernard Shaw, Candida, 1898
The wealth gap was becoming so great it was affecting the unity and stability of Athens. Richard Miles, Ancient Worlds III: The Greek Thing, BBC 2010
Where wealth accumulates, men decay. Oliver Goldsmith
Fabulous wealth was spilling from roaring belching cities, but millions went hungry. Really hungry. Gaunt hungry. Shoeless children could be seen on the streets of every town. Andrew Marr’s Making of Modern Britain, BBC 2009
Mormon Church: An estimated wealth of thirty billion dollars [2020 estimate one hundred billion dollars]. John Sweeney, This World: The Mormon Candidate, BBC 2012
The life of the wealthy is one long Sunday. Georg Büchner, The Hessian Courier, 1834
Billionaires use a private network of luxury food suppliers. The World’s Most Expensive Food I, Channel 4 2015
As the rich get richer, their spending is escalating beyond belief. ibid.
Not just any coffee ... £325 a cup. ibid.
Food suppliers must constantly raise their game. ibid.
There is no road to wealth so easy and respectable as that of matrimony. Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne
The Mormon Church is not only wealthy but its unusually secretive about the extent of this wealth. Richard Ostling, co-author Mormon America
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Psalms 49:6&7&16&17
Spend your wealth for the cause of Allah, and be not cast by your own hands to ruin; and do good. Lo! Allah loveth the beneficent. Koran 2:195
Give unto orphans their wealth. Exchange not the good for the bad (in your management thereof) nor absorb their wealth into your own wealth. Lo! that would be a great sin. Koran 4:2
The al-Nahyans of Abu Dhabi. The discovery of huge oil reserves on Abu Dhabi territory proved a godsend to Dubai and the other five emirates that formed the new state of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1973 after the British decided to withdraw all its forces east of Suez. At present extraction, Abu Dhabi’s oil will last for another 200 years. The al-Nahyans’ cash ... is estimated to stand at $500 billion – half a trillion. Misha Glenny, McMafia
Most of the people who do nothing get the best of everything. More than three-quarters of the time of the working classes is spent in producing the things used by the wealthy. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
‘This systematic robbery has been going on for generations, the value of the accumulated loot is enormous, and all of it, all the wealth at present in the possession of the rich, is rightly the property of the working class – it has been stolen from them by means of the Money Trick ...’ ibid.
Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it. Horace
Distribution [graph] that 92% of Americans think of Ideal Distribution of Wealth; [hockey stick graph] What Americans think the Distribution is; [stalagmite graph] Actual Distribution of Wealth in the US. Illuminati Plans 2016, Anunnaki Truth, viz Youtube
Money offers an illusionary form of social validation … The accumulation of money is therefore an accumulation of social and psychological power. And those who control the creation of money controls this power at its source. So who controls the creation of money? Well in the case of the US dollar it isn’t the government. ibid.
If all money is created through loans, where does the money come from to pay the interest? ibid.
A construct of belief: our chains are the chains of the mind, and the path to freedom must also begin in the mind. ibid.
Chapter 4 Blood Money – Petrodollar: the largest financial con in recorded history. ibid.
‘You don’t need us to tell your gas prices are on the rise’. ibid. ubiquitous clichéd US news introduction
$62 billion [now $67.3] makes him the richest man in the world. Becoming Warren Buffett, news clip, Sky Atlantic 2017
On the way [to the office] there’s a McDonald’s so I’ll pick up something. ibid. Buffett
I like numbers. It started before I can remember. It just felt good working with numbers. ibid.
Berkshire Hathaway: ‘A holding company of sorts; it owns a large number of separate businesses.’ ibid.
Two Rules of Investing: Never lose money; never forget rule number one. ibid.
It’s all mental with him. ibid. wife
1986 Net Worth: $1.4 billion; 1996 Net Worth: $15 billion; 2006 Net Worth: $46 billion. ibid. captions
Berkshire Hathaway 2016: 61 subsidiaries; 47 minority holdings; 331,000 employees; $210,821,000,000 revenue. ibid.
Warren Buffett says he is giving away most of his fortune to charity. ibid. news
He’s painted by some as a man obsessed with money. Since leaving No 10 his critics claim the former PM has cashed in on his image. The Blair Rich Project, Channel 5 2016
Has his pursuit of power and money cast a shadow over his reputation? ibid.
10 houses and 27 flats … Blair secured a £4.6 million advance on his autobiography. ibid.
‘I don’t admire the Koch brothers. I’m not against people who make money, that’s fine. But what they do with their money isn’t fine with me. The Koch brothers – they are determined to do away with government.’ Koch Brothers Exposed, Harry Reid senator, 2014
Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are the poster boys for the top one per cent using their money to fuel the growing inequality in America. Day in and day out we see the Kochs using their billions to purchase politicians and policies, taking a terrible toll on democracy as they knock down the middle class, stomping on poor people. ibid.
They inherited a big pile of money from daddy Fred. ibid.
Koch industries is the second largest privately held corporation in the country … ibid.
‘They are interested in using the money they make to buy a political system that allows them to become dominant players in the shaping of the country. ibid. John Nichols
The Kochs gave $23 million to think tanks that published 4,055 studies, papers and media projects targeting minimum wage. Koch-funded politicians proposed 67 bills in 25 states targeting minimum wage. ibid.
The Koch brothers have given more than $22 million to think tanks, politicians and Alec to pass anti-union legislation. ibid.