Feeling Wealthy

The United Nations University has released a report claiming that the richest people in the world have more money and other stuff than everybody else.
There are some interesting numbers in there. According to the report, if you have net assets of more than $2200 then you’re wealthier than half the world. You’ll need $61,000 to be in the top 10% and about half a million to be among the world’s wealthiest one percent. If all the world’s wealth were pooled and distributed equally, we each get a check for about $20,000.
Additionally, you’ll find that the top percent holds 40% of the world’s total wealth, and people in the United States hold about 25% of the world’s assets, making it the wealthiest nation on earth. However, according to the report, due to some irregularity between exchange rates and purchasing power that I don’t understand, Japan may actually be wealthier.
Now that I’ve got you comparing yourself to everybody else, go over to the Global Rich List to see where you fall in the whole scheme of filthy, selfish greed. It should be noted that the Global Rich List is based on income, not wealth, and therefore is not only unrelated to the results of the UN report, but are also pretty much useless in determining how rich you are.
Granted, neither the UNU report nor the Global Rich List takes into account cost of living. There’s no doubt that we here in the US have it a lot better than people in most places in the world. I just hate the use of statistics to lump all the world’s people together financially and then make broad conclusions.
There’s something to chew on, anyway.