The Millionaire Next Door

Unhappy 99%ers: Sell Your US Citizenship to Chinese Millionaires

Stories about the so-called “evil rich”, the ever controllinig 1%, are rampant in the news.   But the good deeds of the rich, if reported at all, are many times buried in the back pages.  Take for example the 3″ x 6″ article published in The New York Times, “Two Cheers for the Malaria Vaccine.”   The article reports that $200M was needed to fund pediatric trials for the malaria vaccine that will be administered to impoverished youngsters in third world countries.  The Gates Foundation donated the $200M to drive the research to completion.  Ten years from now it is likely that millions of healthy youngsters will owe their very lives to the generosity of Bill and Melinda Gates.  Elsewhere, 67 of the Forbes 400 [billionaires] have already agreed to follow the leads of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates by pledging one half of their net worth to noble causes. 


Certainly the American economy has its drawbacks.  Not all people are always treated equally, including small investors.  And resources are not always equally distributed.  But if you listen to the cries of the “99 percenters” you would think that America is no longer the land of opportunity.  In relative terms, America is still at the top of the class in providing both economic opportunity and stability.  As mentioned in Stop Acting Rich, 42% of millionaires report having a $0 or a negative net worth at the time that they began working.  And again 8 out of 10 millionaires are self made. 


Perhaps the 99 percenters should reflect upon The Wall Street Journal article that recently reported on 2 surveys of Chinese millionaires. 


. . .almost 60% of high net worth individuals in China had either arranged for or were considering immigration. 


And guess what destination ranks #1?  The United States.  And who can blame them?  These people have “increasing concerns. . . about social issues such as China’s one child policy, food safety, pollution, corruption, poor schooling and a weak legal system.”


If the 99 percenters feel that economic and social conditions are so bad in America, they might petition Congress to pass new legislation.  This law would enable them to sell their American citizenship to Chinese millionaires who want to immigrate here.  In return, these 99 percenters will be compensated with a substantial sum of cash plus Chinese citizenship! 

11 thoughts on “Unhappy 99%ers: Sell Your US Citizenship to Chinese Millionaires”

  1. FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com

    I went to China recently and I am not surprised. I wouldn’t want to live there either.

    If I were in China and I had the money to leave, I’d buy my way into any other country but China. That’s what they’re doing too — flooding Singapore, moving to Europe.. this is reality.

  2. I do agree with the sentiment that we all need to “Occupy our Checkbooks” to bring about change. However, the fact that 67 out of 400 billionaires (about 17%) have pledged half of their net worth to charity is not really that impressive. We’re talking about BILLionaires, here. Mr. Stanley, I am normally a huge fan of your work, but this argument is pretty weak.

  3. Dr Stanley

    I don’t think most of the 99 percenters begrudge those who have made their wealth through hard work or exceptional talent.

    What they (and I) have problems with is the massive wealth that is being directed to the management classes with little or no relationship to performance.

    Enormous risks are taken with other people’s money. If the gamble pays off, they are rewarded lavishly. If it fails, they may be moved on but invariably with a large payout.

    In my view, this rent seeking behaviour of management has gone too far. These people aren’t true entrepreneurs or creators and society will be worse off if they continue to prosper at everyone else’s expense.

    Regards
    John

  4. Bravo! Dr Stanley. Interesting you mention the 67 Billionaires that took the pledge. The others on the 400 list are often found at or near the top of other charitable givers. These acts go unreported, or they often are done anonymously for good reasons. I think it is fantasticly impressive that these 67 pledged to give away half of their net worth.

    Reading Truett Cathy’s most recent book gives more inspiration to me. I may never reach Billionaire status, but I am impressed by the good accomplished by these examples.

  5. Dr. Stanley,
    The US ranks as the most desirable place for immigrants from 3rd world countries. The reason we are so great is because of our relative fairness and democracy. The people in the protests are protesting erosions of these qualities.

  6. So, so long as we’re better off than the Chinese, we shouldn’t complain? So long as the Chinese have a more uneven playing field than ours, we have no place to speak out against our uneven playing field?

    By that logic, the house slaves had no right to complain because they were treated better than field slaves. After all, sometimes they got leftovers from the master’s table.

    Additionally, if you want to have an honest look at what the Occupy protests are all about, read Matt Taibbi’s “Wall Street Isn’t Winning – It’s Cheating” on the Rolling Stone. I think it will help you see the protests for what they are.

  7. Please don’t be upset about the 17% of billionaires leaving half of their net worth to charity. It’s their money. It’s their choice. Let’s be sure we’re not trying to occupy other people’s checkbooks.

    By the way, what % of your net worth are you leaving for charitable causes?

  8. Does Margaret not understand the math of what 67 BILLIONAIRES pledging half of their net worth to charity amounts to? And, who’s to say that the other billionaires don’t have designated charitable trusts set up? I commend Jordan for his comments. It’s very easy to spend other peoples hard earned money. I wouldn’t pledge half of my net worth without very careful scrutiny of the charities that I myself choose.

  9. Unfortunately most of the charities you see advertised regularly are only there for personal monetary gains and only use minimal resources on actual charity, yet people would rather give to self sufficient giants like salvation army who claims to help homeless, yet the stores usually only give clothes to homeless paying $10/night to stay in their bedbug-ridden disease motels for homelessness, many will kick out those people looking to get off the streets by working hard so they are forced to return and pay their $10/night… They don’t need any donations as they run a successful business, merchandise is free for them, half the employees (or more) are volunteers (some are the homeless that are paying $10/night for a jail-style bed) Many are banking off the homeless, oh and try to go to one and get any if the services they get paid by other agencies to distribute (have yet to find one from Florida to Seattle and many cities in between… They only give to customers… They are FAR from a charity… They are a business setup to bank off your charity and homeless people… Unfortunately most large charities work much the same way, only give enough to satisfy the grants and put the rest in your back pocket…. 🙁
    Cannot wait to get ANY donations to the nonprofit I have been trying to build because there needs to be a true charity that is devoted to charity, that’s why we have a rule, none, at any time in history, will make more than 3.5x poverty level and services will all be free (unless we service a business, they will have to pay, but not too much, as we will be producing food and clothing to start)

  10. well im not grede I sell my for$ 200.000 yes to pay my kids college I don’t my to eat rice the rest of my life any way im tired of hamburgers

  11. Of course it’s still the “land of opportunity”….BUT….in more nauseating fashion, it is (more so) the land of tacky, gaudy, Hymie-elitist money-printing.

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