Birds of a feather flock together especially rich ones. A million in amsterdam this is where europes super rich meet. Their becoming rich and rich more numerous than. The rest of the population envious of. Rightfully so. Theres a wealth of myths out there about being rich money doesnt make you happy. Germany is ignorance about wealth to be honest and. The on equal distribution of wealth causes problems that. Scientists have now discovered the rich as a group. To be studying. A trillion euros one thousand and twelve zeros thats how much the worlds rich spend every year on luxury items such as a rump of fifteen thousand euros with diamond buttons whats the point of this superfluous luxury because the diamonds are now based on the diamonds and the. Home and people yes its very special why do you got to love this wealth seeing what you can buy in the world is a sight to behold. And develop this sparkle yeah i like both also have pearls theres just something about it its it looks beautiful. Academics havent really looked much the topic of wealth to date for more than thirty years social scientists looked mainly at poverty but now the distribution of wealth is being seen in the round. This is how we perceive the rich in the media what a foreign concept tax is why theyve got their money in the bahamas. But is that a cliche for the reality its hard to find out the rich isolate themselves they stick together. To solve them. Thomas durian is a plutonic just he studies wealth he knows many super rich people personally. Id say that great wealth one hundred million three hundred million in art is an attack on your character of the cocktails you have to have an extremely strong character to avoid falling prey to the temptations that come with it for britain is a need to fire those few its your distance from the everyday problems suffered by others. And when you watch the news it feels like youre watching a Science Fiction show from another planet. Almost devean is visiting company heiress cares and schubert today thanks to his research he has access to a world thats normally closed to outsiders. Thomas has interviewed several hundred multi millionaires and billionaires already he set up the worlds only academic chair in wealth psychology in vienna. Youre ok with us recording the conversation. Its kind of mean when you were a little girl when was the first time you became aware that youd like these rich. Possibly because we went on holiday more often than other children at school but otherwise we grew up in a very grounded fashion and it wasnt evident to me from. Justin schubert inherited a business with an annual turnover of one hundred twenty Million Euros then she sold it for a lot of money the millionaire heiress has written a book about her experiences she likes talking about the downsides of her inheritance. I think very closely about whom to being greater contact with. Whom i tell what im doing and who might invite to my home. Or and. I think very closely about what advisors i can trust in my life it happens that our closest adviser our tax advisor and executor and bad intentions for a lifetime but will still does not relate to these or worries and fears some of us would like to have the rich prefer it if nobody really knows just how rich they really are. Almost a million has discovered that in germany many super rich people hide their wealth and present a modest face to the outside world. Often you can sense this guilty conscience theres a certain fear of society what would they say about me going to do with your feeling that is if youre not willing which is all it was a far i know many who think very closely about what car to drive and how they should present their homes and whether it wouldnt be better to have a regular flat here and maybe something bigger on the law currall marine. Corps or is it set up. The strategy of the german millionaires and billionaires to Stay Grounded and to lead a normal middle class life the opposite is true in russia or in the United States these cultures like showing off austria has a different mindset to. These cultures celebrated they celebrate the characters title still play a role its a family membership the aristocracy belonging to those groups comes with a certain values and its a different mentality and. I dont know if it is if. Its more emotional that. In germany its more rational and in switzerland its. On the high for sheens so we have three different types of wealth mentality that it. Does wealth actually means. In its report on wealth and poverty the German Government defines people with assets of more than five hundred thousand euros as rich regardless of whether that moneys in a bank or tied up in a house. Many International Academics say thats not enough they say someone is rich if they have more than a Million Dollars freely available that means Owner Occupied housing doesnt count. After thirty Million Dollars someone is considered super rich. There are more than a million millionaires and more than one hundred and twenty billion as in germany. Three quarters of rich people are male and their average age is fifty nine. Its hard to get rich by working for someone else entrepreneurs and self employed people stand a better chance. Than half of rich people cite self employment as the foundation for their wealth. And more than three quarters of them have already inherited. These figures come from marcus got up to hes a distribution scientist and gathers data about wealth and income in germany. And. Even though the german welfare state often catches those in need wealth in this country one of the rich. Just in the world is also distributed unequally. Half of the population possesses just one percent of the entire wealth in the country. A tenth of all germans meanwhile possessed seventy percent of the wealth. These figures are estimates only there are no official statistics about wealth anymore since the wealth tax was abolished in one nine hundred ninety seven but there are tax data on the subject of income they reveal that those who already have given more. Busy in some of them or worse in the fund we can see that those at the top edge of the top tax bracket are seeing particularly big increases in their income thats a phenomenon were witnessing internationally indorsement thats confirmed in germany by bonuses paid to Board Members on Companies Listed with the German Stock Exchange and in doing oxy go ya know in it fine im fine in the eightys the ratio was about eighty to one compared to an average employee. Today its at two hundred to one hundred. The big gap in incomes is one of the reasons why the distribution of wealth is becoming increasingly unequal. According to the German Institute for Economic Research germany and austria have the greatest wealth inequality of any countries in the eurozone. Marcus also studies wealth mobility. How difficult is it to climb the wealth ladder. The result here is that the top earners have increased their ability to remain in the top income brackets in recent years at the same time we see the same tendency at the bottom of the scale and. Those who come from a basic income situation in germany have had a reduced chance over the past ten years of elevating themselves to a middle class income. Let alone a top level in comfort. From dishwasher to millionaire hardly anyone can make this string a reality anymore the gap between the middle class and the rich is widening. In addition to those who are already at the top of Wealth Distribution are very likely to inherit a lot of money during their lifetime and in turn theyll pass on their wealth to their children. Happy in westphalia now they christina also the man is among the lucky ones who will inherit a substantial fortune one day in the form of a company. Her great grandparents founded a wholesale food business it turns over around seventy five Million Euros a year. Married christina. Has run the business with her father for around ten years now the business is handed on from generation to generation in her family and the family fortune grows. Many i dont any more than when i speak out in public as an entrepreneur i get a lot of pushback from a lot of people who have different views some of them are a bit envious that im a business woman and that i was born into a Family Business and our decision to name of them been as a younger not a name i have been accused of having being born with a silver spoon in my mouth and that i have not achieved things through personal effort to. Rally christina the man is aware how lucky shes been thats why it matters to her that her family fortune isnt tied up in Bank Accounts or big mansions. People often imagine that a business has a lot of money they think you are like Scrooge Mcduck sitting on a huge pile of money but the wealth of Business People is tied up in their business. In the premises in the machines its needed for the. Vestments in the future so that you can secure jobs in the long term so can. You. In twenty fifteen almost a hundred and two billion euros changed hands by way of requests and gifts the state only got six point three billion euros in taxes from that. According to predictions even more wealth will be inherited in the future. The generation of the economic miracle is dying leaving its fortune behind over the next ten years an estimated two to four trillion euros will be passed on inheritances but not everyone will benefit. Around half of all germans wont inherit anything only debts. Happy eight percent of all as will get more than forty percent of germanys wealth. Stephanie vienna a university of economics and Business Studies how social inequality is passed on across the generations. Inheriting is a big issue in austria in two thousand and eight the inheritance tax was abolished even though more and more wealth is being passed on in the quest. For a woman here we can see the volume of wealth that will be inherited in the coming fifty years currently estimating a value of around fifteen billion and this value will more than double by the year twenty fifty. Stefan is convinced that although inheriting doesnt cause inequality it in trenches it its not fair he says that high taxes have to be paid on money earned from work but none for wealth and inheritances thats why home is in favor of reintroducing the inheritance tax as an equal izing element. The company i prefer. We could use this inheritance tax to reduce the tax burden on work and we could support several other things of social value. Because if. We could increase the equality of opportunity and intergenerational fairness fane then this think you we want to prevent households from drifting further and further apart if we want to put the brakes on wealth inequality claims. The company heiress Mary Christina was the man once to reach young people from all social classes with her start up teens initiative she wants to inspire them to start their own companies. Business people like her who dont agree with wealth and inheritance taxes. She believes the inheritance tax on business assets should be as low as possible. This should add fuel says how debate of them the people who say that and contribute nothing of their own and that they should therefore pay a lot of taxes because that fan but i think its incredibly unfair because the money in question has already been taxed several times in fact so why should it be taxed yet again and the second thing is this money isnt at the free disposal of Business People its tied up in the companies because it urgently needed. Seven him and knows this argument but he still says sparing company is wrong because theyre particularly privileged. And the same as at our place in our interview we can see very clearly in the dr on Wealth Distribution that Business Ownership and wealth are concentrated at the top of the distribution so when you get apes or moving syria if you go easy on Company Wealth you have to bear in mind that youre favoring those households that are situated at the top of the Wealth Distribution because the on the bits of the family was fertile and significant. Not everyone at the top wants to spend all their money or leave it to them as. Some want to give back to society and make use of Tax Advantages white by the by with a foundation. The donor makes a certain amount of money available. The Foundation Capital isnt touched. All the activities at the foundation are paid for through interest from the capital alone. Since almost all foundations are set up for eternity there are some curious foundation purposes a church in hamburg hands out fifteen sets of underwear to women in need thats what the donor decreed in the year seven hundred sixty two. Over the past fifteen years the number of foundations has gone up dramatically the register of german foundations contains around twenty three thousand entries. Sociologist thank god love has been studying foundations for decades he says its not fair that foundations enjoy so many Tax Advantages while ordinary clubs and societies dont he also criticizes the eternal nature of foundations. And the special feature of foundations is that the donors wishes remain valid even after their death over the decades and centuries that this foundation is active in a charitable sense the foundation has Tax Advantages. Now youre stuck with this indio sink receiver and this strong tie to the donors wishes without giving society a say at all and you can criticize that from the perspective of democratic theory to. The rich can save on taxes via their foundation and assert their own views of what is good for society they alone determine what to support what constitutes a good cause not society not the government. Flag id love demands more social control over foundations being able to make decisions about Charity Means power. And for less than anything you leave behind the narrow sphere of business and you turn to other areas that leads to a change in your status as a member of the elite before hand you were only a member of the economic elite the foundation can contribute to you becoming a member of a charitable italy offered by a top of mind when he didnt its hand. What happens when elites are the only ones who have the say to see that we can turn to the United States here the rich have great political power. With the election of donald trump the white house is now inhabited by a billionaire half of all senators are millionaires. Inequality in the United States is greater than in any other industrialized country. Education is a luxury the best universities are exclusively private. Only those who can afford the tuition fees of around forty five thousand euros a year can study in princeton that money has to come from the parents or from a scholarship. Martin guillens a member of the department of politics at princeton examines the role of big money in politics. While money and politics so closely linked in the United States one reason is that elections arent publicly funded every candidate has to raise enough money or have rich donors. Its costs about a Million Dollars now to win a seat in the u. S. Congress and the house of representatives that. Ten Million Dollars to win a seat in the senate. These are vast sums of money and theres very few people that can sort of fund their own campaigns and of course those who can are already the rich people and those who cant depend on people with money. The poor and the middle class are in the majority but according to martin they have zero say in the us. Hes compared proposed law changes with opinion surveys in different social classes. The result political decisions are almost always based on the wishes of the rich minority regardless of whom the majority elected into power. Examples include several proposals to regulate the financial industry. Raising the minimum wage. Reducing taxes on Investment Income and the top rate of tax generally. The political scientist evaluated almost one thousand eight hundred proposed law changes covering a period of more than twenty years the degree of inequality did surprise me and virtual complete lack of influence of ordinary voters was surprising and dismaying frankly i think for any country that considers itself a democracy or aspires to be one idea that average citizens people of ordinary incomes have little or no influence over what their government does is quite dismaying. And theres a backlash the public dont feel well represented by rich politicians who are only acting in their own interests it sounds paradoxical but that was one of the reasons for the success of donald trump he was seen as an outsider who wasnt part of the political establishment that was part of trumps message chance specially early in the primaries when he was running against these candidates you know founded by this sort of traditional republican billionaire funder harris and part of his message was you know i cant be bought because i dont need their money and i do think that that also resonated with voters a bit ironic given that hes a billionaire but nevertheless a message that i think a lot of voters are open to. Washington d. C. President Abraham Lincoln united the country in the nineteenth century. Today theres not much unity anymore in the United States black and white rich and poor there is a deep rift running through society. Millionaires are in charge on capitol hill just two kilometers away many people live in poverty. The only people who are allowed to stay in this homeless shelter are people who have a steady job but still cant afford a home. Social work eric savior parker runs the center during the morning briefing they discuss the new arrivals. What has become of the idea that everyone can make it that everyone can strive and achieve a higher standard of living if only they work for eight. Were talking about the American Dream. Where the American Dream is a day of a hole in a. White picket fence but you know thats reality for some people now for some people who will never have. The clothes room of the homeless shelter. One of the residents Richard Wilson needs clothes for a Job Interview until a year ago he was a member of the middle class he had a family a car everything was normal. But then he got divorced suddenly there wasnt enough money to pay maintenance on top of paying for his own home. Did he ever think hed end up homeless one day. I never thought that was the last thing far from my mind which is really brought reality to me that they can happen to anybody you know are you sleeping Homeless People and they asked for a couple dollars and im like youve. Never been to i think that would happen to me living costs in washington d. C. Are very high in percentage terms the city has the most Homeless People in all of the United States there are one hundred twenty four homeless for every ten thousand people and whatever happens you know we just have to put out two straps. In just go with you know go with the flow because if eells like speak for me it feels like i dont have a voice. I cant. It almost feels like im defeat it. And thats not a good feeling. A large part of the population feels left behind defeated by the evil spirits of neo liberal capitalism. What can we do against growing inequality you know. Jack krueger is an economist originally from germany hes lived in the United States for twenty five years hes discussing a new Research Project into global Wealth Distribution with a colleague. You know. Observes with concern how society is just being a part but he also says that inequality cannot simply be abolished because every society wants to get ahead and progress always comes with inequality. Among yes to it if someone develops a machine flanks to Technological Progress one that builds the cars that people used to build on production lines but then the workers who used to work on the production line are in direct competition with the machine and that will depress their wages when the people who develop the machines and the engineers who run and maintain them become more productive because of these machines and so their wages go up. Technological progress ensures that there are fewer and fewer jobs for unskilled workers in manufacturing for example. Not everyone can become an engineer people without particular qualifications are struggling more and more to find work that pays enough. To get demonstrates that forty percent of people in the United States have no assets inequality has taken on extreme forms and the gap is growing. He warns that germany is at risk of the same thing thats happening in the United States. Thoughts on the us it seems to me that theres a growing number of private schools in germany and that residential neighborhoods are drifting apart forsworn. I feel that germany is like the United States was fifteen twenty years ago but that were seeing the same trends in germany tons may not have been to go off of the ocean so tough and with this knowledge germany and europe have the opportunity to do it better so that society doesnt break apart but there is no sign of europe seizing that chance at the moment. The rich and super rich have more opportunities to enjoy life and shape it in accordance with their wishes. What effects does that have does wealth make people happy. Most of us would say yes right away. The German Institute of Economic Research says that the richest someone is the happier they report themselves to be. Thats the statistic. Money definitely means that you have freedom isnt that you dont have certain worries but money definitely doesnt make you happy and you have a lot of responsibility if you make a mistake and you have a lot of responsibility then these mistakes have a big impact you could ruin jobs for example thats a couple again. These are worries that a simple employee doesnt have but once they might like to have its hard for the average citizen to take the worries of the rich seriously. This is confused. This feeling of grunge that comes with money also creates a certain loneliness not that we should all be sad about that you can always come back that loneliness with money. Is a big if we have a psychological problem or we have a burn out then entire families can be ruined if a super rich millionaire has such a problem then they build a museum or go on a trip to the moon with you give the danger of being seduced by the supposed complete freedom is extremely great is extreme cause. Thomas durian says that many rich people have fears of loss they worry about losing their money or about becoming a target for criminals. And as a business person or a wealthy person you worry that you remain safe that youre not abducted that your children are safe there are people who then take an interest in you who start stalking you online or via letters or by standing on your doorstep these things can happen and its tough because we cant understand it these are complete strangers of course hed ask yourself whether you can still live safely and youd fear for your own life. Safety and security thats what the rich long for wealth scientist almost a billion here is that a lot. Definitive is the on the fear of being kidnapped or burglarious of theft and false friends is very big for the fear of what cant be solved with money is even bigger that disease you can have the best doctors in the world but we found very clearly in our research that a certain percentage of rich people are over treated and he gets what he best and its the name of the vehemence of forceful and or the first bush that doesnt oblige him to goes off basically they go to the clinic with a cold and they leave again with pneumonia from the clinic and given me no minutes and over the halls. Fear of disease the mayo clinic in berlin is a place of refuge for many rich people. This hospital for the privately insured and those paying their own bills presents itself like a luxury hotel it even has a Concierge Service and serves excellent food. To be shipped at this hour typical patient is definitely a performance oriented patient who wants to be fit and who cant afford to spend two weeks recovering from a car last year and they just wanted to strengthen their immune systems they want to make sure that they get healthy or stay healthy and damaged by their very Health Conscious they try to have a Healthy Lifestyle and as far as they can in their very stressful jobs. They are going to burn a debt highly takes a close look at how wealthy patients in the mayo check. And. Prices start at five hundred and eighty euros for a ninety minute examination. The superior package takes three days and includes pretty much everything that can be tested from ultrasound on the stomach and thyroid e. C. G. s and m. R. I. Eyes and even allergy tests the patients invest a lot of time and money in their health. Sociologist Thomas Lampard from the old Car Institute examines how Socio Economic status impacts Peoples Health and Life Expectancy. He found out that rich people live a full ten years longer than poor people on average. He believes that such a discovery could be explosive for society. As there are studies that demonstrate that these big differences in health and Life Expectancy arent excepted by much of the population. Theres a lot of pressure politically to act. They have to find a solution it is often politicians havent done enough here in the past ten twenty years and. There are many reasons why rich people have a greater Life Expectancy wealthier people go to screening checkups more often to skin cancer for example. Theyre less likely to smoke they eat more healthily and they exercise more theyre less likely than people from other segments of society to have physically demanding jobs those who have money are healthier with a few exceptions i know this novel was an early august i cango allergies are an exception theyre much more common among children from higher social groups but the second example is Breast Cancer in women since women from higher social groups have their first child later which means they breastfeed later and we know that breastfeeding has a protective effect with regards to Breast Cancer in particular interest in the for. Women from higher social classes drink more alcohol than women from other classes. But overall rich people are healthier and happier than the rest of the population their children are more likely to graduate with the highest qualifications from the high school and a greater percentage of them go to university they have better starting conditions in life. That impacts the development of their personality says economist about her shes conducted experiments to test personality qualities of children such as empathy and the willingness to take risks. Yana time is given a fixed number of coins for every coin he saves he will be given a second call on the money doubles. The coins your time takes right away arent doubled the catch the money from the piggy bank is sent by mail a week later. The experiments show that children from families with a high Socio Economic status are better at saving theyre more patient more willing to share and more prepared to trust others that most in the zone are taken together these characteristics such as patients attitude to risk prosocial behavior all lead to important life outcomes how much will i am one day what educational qualifications will live ten how happy am i with my life how stable are my friendships and relationships. This experiment looks at how well the child can assess its own abilities the child gets a reward when it neither over nor underestimate its own abilities. Thats an important prerequisite for success at school and work the social environment greatly influences childrens personality. Overheats and to achieve greater equality of opportunity in society its important to balance out these differences in the children social environments differences created in part as a result of different family circumstances children need to be given the best social environment possible with a lot of role models with stimulation so theyre encouraged to grow up thats the goal of one project that hannah shellback her wish has evaluated. Its called. High School Graduate if a maori is one of the volunteers in this study. Once a week she meets up with sylvia the student whos participating in the program at her teachers recommendation the to do something together its expressly not about shooter ing or learning outcomes. The idea is for sylvia to feel that someone is there just for her for a while her personality has already benefited. Ive definitely noticed that shes become more confident at first i was the one thinking about how we could spend our time together but halfway through she would say next time id like to do such and such lets go to this woman paula zahn she put forward a lot more ideas and she stood up for them and said why she wanted some of. That unlike not only does mom most of. The children who meet once a week with a mental become more selfconfident hannah shared her curly says observed she surveyed around seven hundred families and divided them into participants in the project and a control group. The theft of the life. The result of character traits such as courage patience and empathy was strengthened by projects such as. Germany is right at the top when it comes to redistributing to children and families its not but when you look at whats effective its confusing alice study shows that there are other ways to nektar children you have to start developing their personalities marcelino the mentoring program we analyzed is both extremely cheap and effective and i see it happening. In our. Support programs foundations and volunteer mentoring programs are good first steps but theyre not enough to narrow the gap between rich and poor in the long term. Society has to create lasting structures that allow real equality of opportunity. To move the hearts and not i dont know mind. Difficult for a regular person from the middle class to rise to a place of affluence or even wealth through their own work and its. The same starting conditions for all our society must never lose sight of this goal. So i think when inequality is connected to that lack of opportunity thats when you see people being you know upset about inequality. At least the dream of a dishwasher to millionaire must stay alive. The very world that consists of seven billion millionaires will never ever exist. They make a commitment. They find solutions. They inspire. Africa all the. Stories about people making a difference shaping their nation. And their continent africa on the move stories about motivational change makers taking their destinies into their own hands on his new multimedia series. D w dot com africa on the move. Good to see seventeen beethoven cest vaughn from september and october first. This is due to be a news live from berlin tensions rise in catalonia ahead of a referendum for independence the Spanish Government is calling sundays planned vote illegal but Pro Independence protesters are demanding the right to decide their own future will report on the deep