More Millionaires in 2006

The annual "Millionaire Update" has been tabulated by Spectrum Group, a Chicago based consulting firm that specializes in assisting the elderly and the affluent invest their savings. I won't ask if you would be eligible for the list if you lived here, but it's not as big a stretch to think you wouldn't make it. That's because a record 8.3 million American households had a net worth of at least 1 million dollars in 2005.
That is an increase of 800,000 from 2004. Taking it a step further, it was also found that the number of households with a net wroth of $5 million or more is now at almost 1 million (930,000, to be exact). To calculate net worth the survey included all assets, including the family home, minus liabilities. This increase bolsters the contentions of many that under George Bush the rich have gotten richer in the U.S. and the poorer become more poor. Bush economic policy creates huge tax advantages for the wealthy and makes it difficult, unless the family spends irresponsibly, to fall form the ranks of the millionaires.
I think few here would question that Bush favors the elite class (the one from which he grew) and that there is a growing disparity between that group and ordinary Americans. The figure also reinforces my belief that being a millionaire in the U.S theses days isn't a novelty. But the question is whether or not it is worth the greater separation between rich and poor in achieving that ideal. What do you think? One thing is certain. Those millionaires are not flushing their money down their toilets. Or are they?
Hmmmmmmm If you take into account what one German retiree did the other day it's hard to say. That's' right. police in Keil, Germany say that a German pensioner flushed bundles of old bank notes worth about $37,000 down his toilet because he thought they were worthless. After discovering the money was the real deal, the flusher frantically called police who had sewerage workers recover about half of the loot from the toilet, and much of the rest from the sewer line where it was found clogged in a pipe.
The unidentified flusher had surmised that the bills were worthless because they were old Deutsche Marks and not the new Euro currency used as a standard in Europe today. After recovery, he dried out the notes and took them to his local bank for redemption. No word on whether or not he traded the smelly bills for gold coins that won't flush....