Of course The Guardian thinks this is just absolutely terrible. Sensible people think it’s great:
More than 31,000 people joined the ranks of the “ultra-wealthy” last year as the fortunes of the already very rich benefitted from rising global stock markets and increased property prices.
The number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) – those with assets of more than $30m (£26.5m) – rose by 6% last year to 513,244, according to a report by the property consultants Knight Frank.
That means there are more ultra-wealthy people around the world than the populations of Iceland, Malta or Belize.
The UHNWI population is expected to swell by a further 27% to 650,000 by 2024, the report estimates, as huge fortunes are being made in India, Egypt, Vietnam, China and Indonesia.
Those previously poor places are getting richer. Incomes are rising. Modal income is rising, mean income is rising, median income is rising. We’re all, all, getting better off – by any average.
Some are doing better than others as this process carries on. Oh Dear, How Sad, eh?
So that’s where the disappearing Middle Class is disappearing.
But it’s the wrong sort of people getting rich, uncultered oiks who don’t attend the right social events and vote the wrong way.
As Deng put it, ‘To be rich is glorious.’ Did I ever tell you what I think of the Greens?