I did a bit of googling, and found that the horizon for the top 150 entrants on the 2008 UK Rich List was £527m ($791 million US). This year, the horizon for the top 150 was a mere £350m ($525 million US), down 33%. I could envision someone trying to make the argument that "well, if they can gain it without laboring, they can also lose it, so why should we concern ourselves with it?"
To which I would submit that the average citizen of the UK has a tiny fraction of that amount in assets, and that the 150th family, with £350m, could lose 99% of their holdings, and still have £3.5m -- quite a bit more than the median British family. And the top name on the 2009 Rich List, with £10,800m, could lose 99% of his holdings and still have £108m, which would put him at #503.
And the US is rather similar in its wealth distribution. See Currents & Undercurrents, Rolling Tides, and Ponds & Streams, below.
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