Inside The World Of The Global Super-Rich

[Music] rolls-royce the epitome of luxury and exclusivity only a limited number are produced and each individual unit is made to order they cost upwards of half a million euros more than a house more than the average European earns after 25 years of work a luxury car that very few can afford which makes the sales figures even more astonishing those royce has achieved a record profit last year and sold more cars than ever before in its 100-year history all in the midst of the economic crisis it seems the luxury industry knows no crisis [Music] the factory goodwood in southern England finishes off their wealthy customers desired car with lots of custom-made extras the interior of a Rolls Royce alone requires 450 hours of work to be completed all by hand [Music] would find leather and stainless steel are all used as well as gold and silver for the Spirit of Ecstasy the famous winged ornaments for the bonnet [Music] yes this is gold plated stainless steel it is an alternative to solid silver this is the parallel world of the rich and the super-rich there are customers who have three four five six vehicles in the garage and there are other customers who have up to 100 vehicles in the carriage what one can say is that our customers usually have a garage akin to the well stocked wardrobe of others there are celebrities from film TV radio and royalty so they come from everywhere there are also a lot of ordinary business people who have done something in their lives who have set a goal that they have achieved often want to celebrate buying a Rolls Royce is also a special reason to celebrate of course all our customers reunited in that they are very wealthy and have made their fortunes and they now want to own the best car that you can buy this is undoubtedly a Rolls Royce how can it be that the luxury industry is booming like this while across Europe there is austerity and benefits of being cut the explanation is surprisingly simple the rich of this world have become even richer since the economic crisis in 2009 each year they've seen an average increase to their wealth of 6% in some countries this increase has been as much as 18% this can be read in an article in the Global Wealth Report written by the Boston Consulting Group who are these rich how do they live and how do they manage even in times of crisis to become richer many of the super-rich live in Manhattan New York of the 1,000 billionaires in the world 58 call this home at the same time one in seven Americans currently rely on food stamps and one in six has no health insurance this is the heart of the financial industry the largest stock exchange in the world here the financial crisis started and from here it spread to the whole world several billion shares are traded here each day Peter took Minh is one such trader he is traded on the new york stock exchange for nearly three decades he was present at the crash of Lehman Brothers starting pointed the financial and banking crisis pictures of him were seen around the world worldwide so the anticipation of that the you know no one no one could believe it was really happening you know when the market starts going down like that that the stress is unbelievable the fear is around you know I've been here for 26 years besides the crash of 87 I would I think those days were the most exciting for us and scary and fearful and the energy here was unbelievable next to us is a live circuit television broadcast in motion Manuel Koch Wall Street correspondent reports on the rapid developments of the German markets for German investors the ratios have shifted totally people used to be happy when you had made a two or three million dollar profit today we see large companies like Apple who record a six billion dollar profit and whose dealers are not even satisfied with that because they were expecting seven billion in one quarter that's not even turnover that is pure profit I imagine many people watching cannot understand how someone with a six billion dollar profit is not satisfied the strong performance of financial markets recently has exacerbated the wealth divide whilst property value increases virtually by itself people without property are becoming poorer to think of it globally it's hard to say I mean people who don't have money are not involved in the market they've lost their jobs prices have gone high commodities went off prices you know the cost of living has gone up so granted if you don't have any money you have less money now and if you have money then you have a lot more money now that makes a lot of sense everything here was blocked off for around three months it was like a high-security prison many people were escorted around of course it is a shame when you see young people who pay big money for their education but you currently have no chance in the job market they used to be opportunities for huge profits here hedge fund manager John Paulson made a record five billion dollars here a year ago you can see quite clearly one can only make such high profits by entering a high risk situation it is mostly a risk at the expense of others I need to bet against something for example in the case of Greece you bet on the collapse of a country attempting to make the largest gains many think this is Mari reprehensible but it makes no difference for the hedge fund managers because they want to make their profits they are in the position of kings one can say to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer the money of the rich works for them too they begin with the capital they have even if they only gain a small return it adds up to more and more I think it's often the case that people worked hard for their money and it shows in America even more clearly than in Europe [Music] in the u.s. almost more than any other country the dream that anyone can do it exists Klaus Heidegger realized that drink the former alpine skier from Tyrol built up a small natural cosmetics company kills into a mega company and eventually sold for a room at 150 million dollars he then created the brand MBT with the money creating healthy shoes with curved soles flying is his biggest hobby he has just flown into the family holiday home in his private plane is fine I was down in Palm Springs because it's always nice it was pleasant the kids are staying at the bottom and my daughter and wife I fly back again tomorrow he lives in a beautiful multimillion-dollar villa set in park with hollywood-esque surroundings outside a fleet of expensive cars and motorbikes confirm a life of luxury houses had both family and career luck having a wife and three children he has moved from being a skier of humble beginnings to a multi-millionaire living in the world of celebs in sunny California [Music] [Music] no definitely not the Tyrol is also nice but there is a very different character here in Venice Beach California Los Angeles America is unique I think the American Dream is that in America you can make it if you work really hard at it of course the options are different the country is so large with its 300 million people in Austria there are seven and a half million these are completely different dimensions I think that because of that the Americans are very open when it comes to business even if something fails once that's part of the success one cannot always do things correctly you'll make mistakes and things fail the next time you try to do better that's the success of the Americans yet for most the American Dream seems to rarely succeed social mobility has become lower than in Europe if American optimism seems undiminished they remove the actors here at Broad Beach with people like Dustin Hoffman Nicolas Cage share they are all based here in Malibu usually on the weekend they also meet at Starbucks yeah I feel about manic yes many people were my customers it kills and it's NBT Dustin Hoffman was wearing MBT as was Sylvester Stallone in kills we have had customers like Richard Gere Heidi Klum Cindy Crawford Julia Roberts we go to cows heidegger's house in Malibu a second home in which he is investing those who can afford to leave their money to do the work pay only 14% profit tax much less than the payroll tax for workers the rich retain much more which can then be reinvested I took up writing since I built the stables [Music] higher taxes for the wealthy in the u.s. are a hot topic Klaus Heidegger thinks nothing of it he's adopted the American mentality which is less composed of envy and more influenced by the belief in unlimited possibilities in America if you are successful people look up and say I want to do the same if you drive a good car or whatever no one says this is a show you have fun with it people are supportive and say I want to do the same which would be a great thing in Europe in Austria there is more envy I think that's bad because it's bad for the people to feel envious it holds you back the stones are quite uncommon Warren Buffett and other guys in a new esada President Obama's hips offered in incineration for and the huge superstorm this is good of a good now we can say I know lots of rich friends you pay huge amounts of text just as I know those who pay too little what the Americans have which the Europeans do not have foundations charities as they are called in America Americans spend a lot of money on charities when someone reaches a certain level he must give back to the community the Americans do this a lot that's the difference lower taxes are always better than too much tax no one wants to pay more in taxes including those in Germany here capital gains are taxed at 25 percent more than in the US but far less than the 43 percent payroll tax it is taken off workers the gap between winners and losers has increased dramatically even with the stagnation in the growth of most managers salaries in Munich there is big money in the suburb of Greenbelt out of every hundred inhabitants one-fifth have the income of a millionaire the income of at least 1 million euros a year we will now go to an especially successful section of Munich on the 32nd floor of the highlight towers is one of the most modern office buildings in the business district of swabbing [Music] Roland Berger owes Europe's largest management consultancy firm it is also one of the largest worldwide with offices in 40 countries he also worked his way up from humble beginnings today his fortune is estimated it's several hundred million his collection of modern art alone is worth millions behind his desk is a picture by the German artist Georg Basel it's as well as Austrians can interpret a falling eagle in many different ways since Basel it started his paintings 40 years ago the world has turned upside down he's taught people it's so much in the world is slanted different unders at the height of the economic crisis Berger advised agency staff to reduce costs by reducing fringe benefits provision of unpaid overtime and dismissal of employees however he doesn't speak in the same vein today you should not recycle any citations that may have been made during the economic crisis in 2008 or 2009 just because the economy has slumped in the world we should not generalize about such measures I do not think this leads to anything it is quite clear it's every company must be economically efficient and be more cost efficient as a standard otherwise people lose their jobs in the company because the company disappears research shows that many companies have used the crisis to their advantage acting in ways that would have been impossible in a different climate have no I do not need a warrant for my success and prosperity I've worked towards my success and when at the end there is some extra money then I see this as a result of the work success I give this this out the fact is did the upper-income groups and lower-income groups have drifted apart it's a level 15 and V and a kindergartner in in annum yeah you see in cities in Seekonk especially in video this is a sign of globalization on the other hand say you have a manager he now works ten times more intensely is thirty years ago females are interns Eve the complexity in size thus the absolute responsibility of the MD called for the five hundred thousand four hundred and fifty thousand jobs in Siemens I do not feel it is extortion if an executive of Siemens who previously and two million Deutschmarks is now paid 10 million euros and Chafin Siemens stiff we realized it's like the own d-mac 1530 no it would seem your alpha team what's about responsibility why should managers get their bonuses even when they operate poorly 10 million euros a year that's 46 thousand euros for each working day but the really rich are those who increase their wealth by millions each day and that's without working ideally they live in Switzerland with Bank Secrecy and tax packages a haven for billionaires ulama des is a sociologist at the University of Basel and is concerned with social inequality the disparity in Switzerland is especially large here the richest 2% of the population have as much as the remaining 98% one of these super rich in val Kamprad founder of the furniture retailer ikea has been living in the wild counsin since the 70s don't conflict the municipality of etholon when mr. Kamprad lives the canton of vaud has a flat tax that is if I use the calculations of attack then mr. Kamprad although worth 50 billion francs only pays 200 thousand francs of tax this is more than manageable even if it is raised especially as he has gained 19 million every day this year firstly in the wake of the financial and economic crisis it is becoming apparent that enormous profits on the stock exchanges were made possible in that time and secondly we can see that during the financial and economic crisis the rich of grip the public sector and state in an armlock while the state's aids the bank's keeps wages low and grants benefits the rich from other countries can transfer their money here to benefit from the local taxes in Swiss banks an estimated 44 billion euros of Austrian money is here I stand here for shriek and a salaam daughter Abel Switzerland is a very secretive country willing to control the tourists costs that exist in other countries I see about Switzerland is keen to attract people who have a lot of money one in ten billionaires worldwide live in Switzerland so far this principle works in these long offices Principe Akumal some function yet we would like to visit in val Kamprad however the media shy multi-millionaire will not receive us camp rats wealth has grown in recent months by 14% or 90 million euros every single day you have one yet another I just mentioned of it yes this is true whether he personally prefers it who knows but it is also safe for his money here because here he has to pay exceedingly little in taxes so he feel again now what's exactly he pays in taxes I don't know but is one of those who benefit from lump sum taxation this is calculated according to the rent of the house this may mean that he pays only two hundred thousand francs in an extremely low amount compared to what was he paid otherwise estimated in two and a half thousand times the amount ma mère Zandi of the therefore Kamprad avoids an estimated 400 million euros in taxes a year so you can t mother's here another estimation avail don't this almost mini-story answered this is controversial there are those people who only remark on the fact that mr. Kamprad lives here and that he brings prestige and there are others who say it drives up land prices which is discouraging and disheartening this leads us to recognize this is the value this others must have two or three times the amount of francs before they can spend it this debate is little seen in the Swiss media the subject of money is considered to be of discretion is part of the complete package for rich foreigners we are in London a microcosm of Russian high society they could live anywhere in the world but London is their preferred place of residence low capital levies of security the best private schools and a high glamour industry the host s arrived 12 years ago with a banker husband from Moscow she is herself a banker an engineer of an economist and is committed to cultural exchanges and charities elena raga Gena now a publisher is celebrating the hundredth edition of the luxury magazine News style a glossy magazine specifically for Russians in London with articles about the Romanovs and Pushkin sponsored by the glamorous luxury brands real estate and investment offices specializing in the affluent Russian clients in London it's a lot of wealthy people many of them they have oil gas steel businesses or they have property an agency or something else bankers and everything it's depends but you know it's probably it's one now it's very fashionable to have family in London and many people moved and husband continued to fly to Russian and have family here and it's like lifestyle of oligarchs like Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky live in London his money's no object the prices are rising fast London has some of the most expensive real estate in the world country and prices go up when when people started to buy in London property then it was Russian Mouse Tiny's and I know from state agency this year it's huge boom this Greek and Italian people people because they have crisis and wealthy people trying to protect the same money to buying property in England everybody think that it's very good investment the top investment would be a house on Chester square plastic over shoes are required during the visit so the luxury property will not be damaged [Music] this is wonderful light-filled space 800 square feet on six floors fully furnished an alarm system and underfloor heating the equivalent of 40 million euros a bargain compared to the hundred million loft in Hyde Park which the real-estate agency also offers there are enough interested parties yes we've had a lot of interest in it and it's anybody on the market for six weeks and we've had a lot of foreign interest from Nationals from Saudi Arabia from Iran from Malaysia from America it's being very diverse people at this end of the market are looking for a turnkey house a house that they can move into without doing any work to it house that they can move into with their family simply with their suitcases and their clothes they'd like to buy something with fully furnished and in this instance the price were quoting of 32 and a half million includes all the contents and you could also purchase all the artwork for another three point two five million pounds so this is the low ground floor and you have this very nice wine storage area with a range of red wines white wine champagne absolutely the wine comes included in the sale of the house absolutely yeah and then you have here the gym so this is a fully equipped gym a lot of the Russian buyers who are buying at the moment are actually basing themselves in London a lot of Russian families moving from Moscow to London there last year we sell two houses in Chester Square to Russian families who are sending their children to school here so they will actually live here from the Georges at the time other nationalities and we had a Malaysian family who are interested they will not live here all time this will be one of several homes they own all over the world the 40 million euro house is now sold as this parallel world of the super-rich blossoms the disparity between the financial top and bottom is increasing according to forecasts it will grow even further and current economic policies will not prevent this but on the contrary contribute to it in the past half hour alone must you of watched this report the ten richest people in the world and seventy million euros which is more than most will earn in ten lifetimes you

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

Views: 1,692,739

Rating: 4.6640506 out of 5

Keywords: Richie Rich Gets Richer, journeyman pictures, documentary, news, Current affairs, economy, the 99%, super rich, off-shore economy, $21 trillion, tax evasion, tax haven, Switzerland, Austria, UK, USA, Germany, banking, banking crisis, corruption, greed, social inequality

Id: 3DT-DTQke58

Length: 28min 10sec (1690 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 23 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/KhanneaSuntzu]

Revolt.

[u/WTFcannuck]

They keep saying earned. I don't think that means what they think it means.