Britain has higher rate of self-made rich than U.S.

[xchrom]

(Reuters) - Britain's billionaires are more likely than their U.S. counterparts to have made their own money rather than inherited it, a study has found, challenging popular perceptions of greater social mobility in America.

A survey by French bank Societe Generale and Forbes of super-rich people in 12 countries, many of whom are billionaires, found 80 percent of the British sample entirely "self-made," as opposed to inherited wealth or a mix of both.

Among the U.S. rich, 68 percent were entirely self-made, the report said. Just a 10th of the British multimillionaires have wealth that was all inherited, compared with 18 percent of American billionaires, the report said.

Only Russians beat the British for the dominance of new money with all those in the survey having made their own millions in the two decades since the dismantling of the Soviet Union's command economy.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/05/26/uk-wealth-selfmade-rich-idUKTRE74P2YB20110526

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. "popular perceptions"

aka "Spin"

[Zoeisright]

2. That's a misnomer. No millionaire is "self made".

The government was there helping them out every step of the way, from the hospital they were born in to their education (and their employee's educations) to the roads they drive to work to clean water and energy.

[toddwv]

3. That's impossible. Britain has much higher rates of taxation.

:sarcasm: Everyone knows that taxing people according to how much they earn destroys wealth...:sarcasm: