the super-rich taking over somebody like me
earns 10 twenty thousand dollars
an hour eighty-five people on the same well first half the world's population
their get the stuff I like the charm how much are you worth
around 250 million pounds
never before has money been so polarized
for the 21st century will be the most unequal
period in human history my name's Jack Peretti and in this series I'm going to
find out
how the super-rich have changed Britain explain how important Britney's as a tax
haven for the super-rich
is very important it's the most attractive location now on the planet
but are they making this richer we once
more super rich people hearing
creating more divided society prevent to see our local labor Marilyn he said
twice a few conflicts with no new conflict in even-numbered you want me to
do about
human nature will always be a little MBAs
all those who have more in Beijing
who sold us the idea the super-rich
make us better off
always been the haves and the have-nots but today you have the haves and
have-nots and have the arts
this is the story at the super-rich on
and office
as the rest Britain struggles
the super-rich never had it so good since the 08 crash
has been 80 billion pounds of austerity cuts
the same amount bankers would have been given bonuses
just over 100
80,000 pounds his Lamborghini cost the same
as an average house in Britain Simon has flown in from switzerland
buy second hand car but not like when you are I might buy
you collect cars how many cars have you got
which is i deny that my wife's the sing-off
I less than 10 lets them center
the super-rich are behaving to the biggest recession since the war
didn't affect them but it did profoundly
they made lots of money from hard to believe
until you hear it from the horse's mouth Michael Wainwright is the bosses diamond
merchant boodles
his family's reported $85 million pound fortune
is among the thousands biggest Britain when the crash happened did you think oh
this is
curtains for offshore you have always with you feeling
will we worry was very bleak for about three or four months
and in spite of what's going on in the world since 08
nothing the welcome you probably have got wealthier mandela reticence to spend
it to begin with optima lake but not now
I think that definitely out to play a game your Michael might have had a bad
few months
the we've had seven years austerity our incomes have stagnated
but last year alone the top thousands of their wealth rise
I seventy billion pounds making their wealth equal to the combined annual
earnings at Britain's entire
full-time workforce got smacking gap between
ass and the richest 1 percent is returning us to a world we thought had
gone away
know when I was growing up in the nineteen seventies
the idea that the aristocracy ruled britain had gone
they were finished but now there's a new aristocracy who have taken over
and they're not the landed gentry by the super-rich
Britain now has a 104 billionaire's
that's more per head any other country in the world
but when you ask how their presence benefits address the us
it turns out that the rich have a party line on that
it's called trickle-down this is multi-millionaire Rob hurts of
dream art leverage
good for Britain yes very good for Britain we want
more super rich people here in England why because
if they invest here if they
hire people if they use taxis
if they go to restaurants they're creating wealth
for people in England its Issac trickle-down its trickled through
you know that creating opportunities for other people
trickle-down
trickle through the idea is that they're spending will benefit oliver's
but does it I've come to a high and showcase the Super watches
to find out
Alex amazing side if I want to buy the how much we got
seven right
only 250
250 bargain I
plays regard thank you time
a we have
metals
metamorphosis to sister what was metamorphosis 1 like
metamorphosis from was amazing
cases now
but a on the matter on an even higher level separate
the hours from me hey you actually have used
was just insane how on earth can I tell the time should
at the moment is very simple win now act
20 tight so no way right many people who
understand how this works works other people who I'm
I S says a bit like a private club this
I tried on right
while not in use
as in the
many
think %uh my
I think I might just make a move alright I say let up
well if you thought that was ostentatious
look at this
it's made old zambian emeralds
white diamonds white gold
a snip 2 million pounds
pics
came to me
whatever you think at this watch these items a trophy assets
manufacturing them is unlikely to employ thousands in the factory here in the UK
so it's hard to see how this kind of spending benefits the rest of us
this is a problem abroad
many the super-rich for attracting spend their money on such trophy assets
private helicopters Learjet so
the office
the money stays pretty much in their world but for the seriously super-rich
only one thing do a premiership football club
time
tiny walking onto the hallowed South we r expensive to
I I know thorpy to brush would cost a million pounds
QPR was bought in 2011 for $35 million pounds by this man
Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandez eases
toughest job interview begins welcome to the most challenging interview
you live he's the star the Asian apprentice
the Alan Sugar the Far East his net worth of $650 million pounds
makes him one of the richest men in both Britain and Malaysia
monument in school for that reason your fire of i
The Apprentice Asia friends tonight attorney made you money for a min
Asian airline why to buy British football club a
when you buy Learjet or a massive yacht you know it's
gently for yourself the occasional parties but QPR
this the feelings I can't describe in
life is about experiences so I rather do that
been set on a massive boat in the military
buying big things might be exciting to the separation
and employ some people but trickle-down was working
the fact we have more super rich than ever before in Britain should mean
we are all getting richer I'm
to win not instead the one percent share of wealth is rising
for the 99 percent living standards remain pre-crisis levels
across the world people are marching
this is a demonstration in Boston against low pay
in London what began with an occupation outside some polls
continued last year with a protest march against low-paying
and the growing chasm between the 1 percent and the rest the box
me and my husband worked all my life we on
part no hey you know just a week on the board
every British
lot of
1 percent attend years
the average weekly income a British family state the same
429 pounds
in the same period the richest thousand people in Britain so they're well
more than double from 200 billion $2,500 billion pounds
do you think it's right the idea that their wealth will trickle down to the
rest the best tasting
up you can see it's not worth it
you can't see it it's not working
inequalities become the FEMA epic Hollywood blockbusters
like The Hunger Games in which people from outside the super rich city
fight to the death for survival
this isn't just science fiction
the recent US government report predicted a Hunger Games future
a world to delete some commonness and inequality is a race to the bottom
that Britain is winning with the only leading economy to have grown
consistently more
unequal this century so how did we come to believe that
attracting the super-rich would benefit everyone who sold us the idea
why to understand need to go back to the 1960s
Britain's well to be built on Empire and the City of London
was the hob now that was gone
but britain had a plan to reinvent itself
as a tax haven for the super-rich we will no longer an empire
we were casino and the biggest high rollers
were about to roll into town
this was the era the jet-set
and leading the pack with the greek shipping tycoon
its old me the ship
and law add up to six million on 28,000
602 top whatever it is the Greek shipping industry
obviously happen he also had a problem
if they settled here they would end up paying tax on the profits
from their huge ships but a compliant British government was happy
for them to exploit a loophole the men they could avoid paying tax
and it was called in on Dom world
rule was a hangover from Britain's imperial past
it was designed to encourage wealthy British colonial magnates
rich from the spoils a vampire to come to Britain
and spend money
this nineteenth century relic
now turned into a twentieth-century tax giveaway
the non dawn roommate Britain uniquely attractive to the super-rich
you could come here and avoid paying taxes simply through a
family connection to a foreign country thank couldn't believe
matlock grant woods is a man who make the system work
as a senior wealth adviser shoots bankers to the super-rich
you place your profits in offshore centers that can be managed
there you can live happily in London enjoyable
all the facilities at the in London among men on Dom's who came to Britain
to reinvent themselves as pillars at the establishment
with czech-born robert maxwell originally
young hot and German tycoon
tiny Rowland Roland futile to his friends
brown words his job was to do these people saw
tax breaks as the key tool people keep kept
testing the limits of what was acceptable and not acceptable
because there are no rules laid down by the Inland Revenue specifically dealing
with this situation the rules will very very lives
it was all very cozy non-dominant poll remained largely on scrutinized
until the 1990s when Tory donor
multi-millionaire as on the deer was found guilty of fraud
large number of people who work in Britain who have the money and written
who don't pay much tax in Britain and many of these people millionaires
using non resident status on on domicile status to avoid the property of cash now
I'm going to close these loopholes but guess what nothing happened
fifteen years in 2008
Alistair Darling finally imposed an annual charge
have 30,000 pounds the someone who is a
billionaire how how how prohibitive is a thirty thousand pound
and platform for someone who's super wealthy
it's the sort of money they'd spend on a party for one of the kids
far from being a Tarrant
30,000 pounds is peanuts on Dom's whose numbers are now back on the increase
30,000 pounds
is three thousand pounds more average salary
first you could blow he espoused on one visit
this Salam all rose gold High Street Kensington
either have come from the point
yes
help piling 30,000 pounds is also around the average deposit
for first time via I'm
doing today he just want to hang your about 10 Canadian
home the current time scale to say for such a deposit
is 22 years
so what you get for this kind of money something called a facial
from miss lee what's going to happen what are you doing
and
discontent skin now
in the PM are simple reaction isn't that
unusual dream note I T Y and usually
it's not really one of treatment things income for
I'm a series of treatments to get maximum results
continuously between six and 12 treatments
monthly basis the more instances from another card
ahead forty from when in school the full super-rich service
ads gold flecked moisturized for the gold marks
with caviar mass Oct 3 ani: because you're worth
or just can just party cause of
called in jail for
luxury services like or a cold
thrived thanks to the arrival of so many super rich people in Britain
in the nineteen seventies who getting used to their presence
first time but while they enjoy
taxation Britain the homegrown super-rich
not amused in 1974 the new labor government promised a massive increase
in welfare spending
to pay for this the increased taxes on the wealthiest
to eighty-three percent the top earners
had enough see him
yeah
but their saviors were hand the unlikely for me
to enterprising accountants Roy
tucker and Ron Plummer thing today
spotting gap in the market they set up their own bank
home Ross Minster its main purpose was the development
complex schemes for avoiding tax
the waiting room at the accountants office resembled an extraordinary
cocktail party
Led Zeppelin Roger Moore the client's and most famously
to have the Beatles
Richard Brooks his attacks inspector who was investigated Ross missus activities
they were promoting weird and wonderful schemes with names like
exam get scheme commodity can be scheme known deposit interest all kinds have
wacky stop my
you aim
pension beings I didn't teach you in school
one Ab responses most unusual schemes is to use the losses from investments in
british films
to reduce customs tax bills came one filmed right into this
tangled web was the British cult classics come a film about
borstal and trouble was now looming
for tucker and plum on the 13th July
1979 seventy tax inspectors
and 28 police officers raided Ross Minster
their offices here with closed and that little party was over
but an even bigger party with just about to begin
russians to show you what you could do with a taxable
just have created you could feed and 5 the
by the late eighties you found big accounting firms devising tax avoidance
schemes and sending them
very aggressive but %uh compliment
not face criminal charges things would never be the same
the man behind Ross Minster mark the fundamental change in attitudes
from now on they were saying rules are there to be broken
but only if you well
I'll Britain was now the tax dodge capital
the world
and it's still happening last year because the rest the first 20 billion
pounds
one man has experienced how tax avoidance works for the super-rich
is billionaire John Caldwell
John you rust sister
thanks for your time pleasure it's not a place to go where
it is phenomenal place you don't get the stuff I like you
the chair like is truly good job like
he built up phones for you from nothing to a billionaire lifestyle
helicopters and a Jacobean part in stock the chip
but this is his latest acquisition a pair of Mayfair mansions
reported value 250 million pounds
I'll a good place to entertain and
really in place to network with with with the rich and famous
London John how does this compare with where you grew up
I provide mail more spacious
well for my my first home
quirk first marital home when I was
I was about 20 at the time was a 14-foot sprite musketeer
caravan on my mother's long Caldwell's not like many of the super-rich
the actually pays his way and as Britain's biggest taxpayer
he's handed over 200 million pounds in the last five years
the has he ever been tempted to break the rules John have you ever saw have
been approached the kind of mad schemes or was approached all the time with my
schemes
and we did take some of them up you know I'm not proud
are how does it work you know what what what's the what's the conversation
that's had
how would you know so with some other schemes is so convoluted
but I couldn't even though I wouldn't even begin to nestle you understand this
hundreds or even thousands of tax accountants
often recruited from the Inland Revenue would tax inspectors
to advise people on hi all to have the latest bombings cutting-edge
scheme if I thought they were reasonably ethical outdo them
but they were wrong
at the end of the day I believe they were wrong but this wasn't just about
individuals
there was a culture in which cozy relationships develop
between corporations and the tax authorities with devastating
consequences for the public purse
there was a.m. very much a system in which senior tax officials
rewarded in terms of promotions
and bonuses not for success in tackling
taxable incomes but success in fostering a partnership
between the company's and and the Department
say was about how well can you create relationship with the company rather
than
how much money can you actually get for the public out the back company
that's right any any few ended up in a big dispute with that company
that would probably count against you in terms of fuel
prospects and Tues which are also being promoted for not doing your job
essentially back at your job as a public employee is to
raise revenue on behalf of the public but actually they were working
pretty much of the company's yeah I think many
senior tax officials 10 years ago would have
said that's how they feel yes
least toxic combination of tax breaks for foreigners
massive avoid implements the home grown wealthy
as change Britain's role in we were once an imperial superpower
now we're a tax hike paper malcolm's
former economic adviser to President George W Bush
can you explain how important Britney's as a tax haven for the super-rich
is very important it's the most attractive location now I think on the
planet
and that's partly because the old tax havens in places like Switzerland are no
longer open for business for new money
do you think the super-rich the super wealthy were surprised by how
open Britain walls as this new tax saving this news Switzerland
yeah I think that they had assumed
that they would be placing their money and you know Geneva and the Cayman
Islands in places like that
these changes only happened because successive governments became convinced
that trickle-down was the onset it started 1979
Conservative government is elected
on the assumption that Britain is broke and the money if the wealthiest
helps save us within weeks
they slashed the top-rated tax from 83
sixty percent the biggest giveaway to the wealthy
in decades tax avoidance was now
government policy my
the old world a heavy industry unions and high taxes
is no longer to be trusted it had failed
and should be chucked on the bonfire history
it was serious concern about how these brave new world
have lower taxes for 1 percent would create inequality
it dominated missus thatcher's first
ever TV interview as prime minister day
is the price for our economic with cover-weight
and prosperity greater inequality in this country you will get
amo sliding society when people can rise to the limit of their talents
and out as the wells they create we should all be better off
so im a moron equal society you think is actually better for a small
opportunity society which enables the
able to earn more but it does mean when a quality does it
does mean mother yes indeed if opportunity
and talent isn't equally distributed than allowing people to exercise that
talent an opportunity
means more inequality but it means you
drag up the poor people because other resources to do so
no one would remember the good samaritan
if you'd only had good intentions he had money as well
thank you very much prime minister
this belief but lower taxes would stimulate
growth came from the US radical economists like
this man of her life an adviser to republican presidential candidate
ronald reagan latter believe
the business not government should be trusted to create prosperity
and to do this the rich should freed from the burden of tax
rich people are different than most people the rich is the one group of
people were you lower tax rates you will get more revenues
and every time we have a raise those tax rates on the rich
they paid less laughter when further he said taxing the rich
would make society as a whole horror
it tax which people give the money to poor people
uranium lots and lots a poor people know rich people the dream is always to make
the poor rich
not to make the rich poor in Britain
chancellor of the Chancellor courted the super-rich
in the belief that they would create well and trickle-down would be our
reward
2010 up
but after three decades have devotion to lower taxes
a new breed economists who have looked at the evidence
a convinced we've got it wrong among them one of the world's leading
economists
Cambridge academic Arjun Chang trickle-down economics a
you know interior is not a stupid idea in our but that the trouble is that are
you really think that this prediction has not been born out because the in
countries like the UK the US that abuse that these policies
investment as a share of national income has fallen
equally crosses at fallen so
ways a though putting you know at that time your promise told is that they're
well if you keep these people were
more money then create are more jobs are boring call
they haven't done anything
the pursuit of trickle-down in the UK means the richer
double their share of income since the nineteen eighties the last decade has
seen incomes for most diverse
stagnate for the widening the gap
so it's hard to see how trickle-down could not be linked with the quality
unless iraq the laffer schools
what critics would say about your
innovation you the moment which economics is turned on its head
is essentially its a fig leaf for politicians to
cynically create tax cuts but with absolutely no
economic rationale behind it was slow but that's not true come on
taxation at its most basic is raising revenue
so society can function exists a taxation is bad is to essentially say
everyone for themselves there is no such thing as society
hand this is what the deal is of course the reason you tax
is so that you can get those rafters and do good the government can do what
government should do
me highway schools defense all these wonderful things
and when they've run out of things the government should do
just up but look what's happened in Britain we have one of the lowest
levels a taxation for the super wealthy and our economy has
real level a stagnated to thing in it inequality has increased as a result
if by inequality declining you make everyone poor but you meet the poor
little bit less poor than you make the rich a lot poorer
I don't like it I like I like equality when everyone is benefiting
and I don't wanna see everyone reaching equality by everyone going to the
basement
that's my view so I think looking at equality as an issue by itself
is nonsense
this conviction that taxes should be low
is the super-rich mantra but here in Seattle
one of them it's breaking rank make an hour is an internet billionaire
who believes we've been choose trickle-down economics is
is old as human civilization used to call it divine right
now now we call it trickle-down economics it is simply the idea that
I matter and you don't that
that what I do is indispensable and what you do
is extra on it how we keep you in line
he agrees with the critics that the gross inequality we are now witnessing
is the result of the wrong turn we took three decades ago
the great problem we face
in Britain and the United States is that we are you know we have formed
are economic policies on essentially
believing the trickle-down idea of reagan thatcherism
right the idea that if you make rich people richer everybody's gonna be
better off
and and you know that's just not true it's not how the economy works
use me as an example I mean I earn literally
a thousand times as much per year
as the as the median wages sensually in the united states plus or minus
but I I don't buy a thousand times as much stuff
I own three or four pairs of jeans a
couple appears issues mom you know we have a big beautiful house
but I don't have a thousand houses here in Seattle and so
on no matter how much money I have
I cannot sustain a great national economy only a robust middle-class can
do that
this is not simply about the failure of trickle-down inequalities threatening
capitalism itself
capitalism which is the greatest social technology
ever created for creating prosperity human societies does need some
inequality
just like plants do need some water
but in precisely the same way that too much water
kills plants by drowning them too much inequality
kills capitalism by drowning the middle class gains at the super-rich
have come at the expense have all of us stagnation is touching parts of society
that had previously avoided paying
welcome to Twickenham home at the middle classes
for decades who complained when shops like little arrived
not any longer I wanted to see if they still felt secure is a class
was suffering like everyone else since 2008 I haven't
enjoyed an increase in pay and yet inflation has run higher than my paper
goods effectively I'm
earning less now than I was in 2008
I think germany a personal out this guy gonna get down down downnnnn
my parents I'm like I could pension arm
you know they get there I winter fuel payments survey gets
I am you cannot have unknown if freebies but
I'm not expecting to have a pension I'm expecting to be much poorer when I'm
older
and because the money is in there 5 ani: continuing healthcare
forget it I'll be off to take my tax me I
but inequalities in just about the middle class it's about something more
fundamental
here in paris groundbreaking research is being carried out
which reveals that a seismic changes taking place
in the structure of society
it was here that plaster the Concorde in Paris
the higher the French Revolution the original one percent got their heads
chopped off
so it's fitting behavior in Paris two hundred years of one-man
an economist is changing out very understanding of what's going on
by analyzing how the super-rich a transforming our world.
the man in question is the world's most influential economist
Thomas picketed the middle class is very important for the for the economy
because she's worked social who knows too well you don't want to develop
mass consumption and to develop a massive investment in construction
and he does started to shrink to some extent influenza
past 20 or 30 years and and I think it would be a major threat
to I'll democracies you shouldn't west to
continue and shrinking in the coming decades
well and picketing puts the blame for the shrinking middle class
on the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich
I'm gonna continues direction for shrinking middle class
it's difficult to know how far these chemical weapons
sure is that in recent years what we observe in
in print and and across countries and very top
when Saunders billion as i have been raising
much faster than average rents and much faster
thousands a size as you can you can see that uses continue for several DJ's
to share going to the middle class dragged
if we believe that a more equal society represents programs
this is under threat
picketing points to one former wealth in particular
as a key to understanding his argument property
pollution in home ownership many of my generation
followed them onto the property ladder but since 2003
home ownership has stalled I'll
this is Oxford
but with far away from the dreaming spires here
in this city homes used to cost three times the average local salary
but now an average home costs eleven times the monthly salary making Oxford
one of the least affordable places in Britain
Oxford professor Danny doling agrees that the decline in home ownership
is at the heart of the growth in inequality
how important was
the idea owning property to actual relative
economic equality this is incredibly important we
we went from the sea position at ninety percent was renting and only those who
earn money
owning to position lay it was up the normal for the middle class
to buy property while and then pour house if the four thousand pounds in the
seventies
I'm to to position is known in the working-class turbine
did this really have been society set up help people and money
to get a friend to build you a house my house
not commonly used to saying that how do you see my house
while you'll come around to my house old
cool way to move in in the seventies popular sitcoms such as the likely lads
reflected the reality of an upwardly mobile society
but today's likely lads more likely to live in a rented flat
spending twice as much renting as they put on a mortgage
in every dream home
muhamed taking and improve step back take
takes me there's no way that this crisis is more evident
than here in London their building
but it's the super-rich Bonnie but
homeowners be and developers are chasing their cash
its with extraordinary developments
like base one Hyde Park showcased in this highly polished promo
one Hyde Park represents a valuable investment in which develop a cell
potential buyers the dream
in have living a celebrity lifestyle in the centre of London
to the south Knightsbridge one other the cheapest
lacked is 6.5 million pounds residences
on average income it would take 250 years to buy it
if you just went to work keeping and slept
security and never had children resident school holidays safety
of food ok a unique thanks in part to super rich investment
London prices have increased by 25 percent
in a year be one Hyde Park offers legendary service
a new global benchmark for luxury residential living
representing a secure investment in the current economic climate
some existing owners have already seen a substantial increase in capital value
in excess up eighty percent own the legacy
experience the exception
few people have changed London skyline
like Peter Reid's the former head of planning
City of London he now blames foreign speculation for driving prices
outside the reach of ordinary London's we have a housing bubble in London that
is fueled by
an almost limitless wave over international capital
there's no end to that supply it's constantly being generated in
russia and China
how to foreign investors view the properties that buying in London did
they see them as homes
investment in the residential real estate market in London
is perceived as even better than gold bricks what you have to hide in a hole
you can see these things are out there piled up
and you can actually keep an eye on them but of course
inside they are just containers for this same capitol that you would otherwise
put in a bank vault
because I would that why refer to these as piles safe deposit boxes
mine
Battersea Power Station once a symbol industrial power
seen in this glossy and as being redeveloped
flats the first 866 sold
eighty percent went to foreign buyers seventy percent simple new build
residential property in central London
is now being bored by foreign investors so what does this mean for
ordinary people us the paying claims
above the very rich spreading over larger and larger areas
and not even in areas where the you for Richard living
but areas where they're simply investing how far can this go
how much do we give over to this desert to
wells before London ceases to work
of
this is creating a new class have economic refugees
a newer this group of single moms are being removed from their homes
to make way for a new development but they refused to go
what's happening here is being called social cleansing
is orpheus what's happenin all these
am Paso homes and places are being demolished ambulance /url
glass buildings luxury apartments that nobody
local area an awful this one being built just there's a stone's throw from where
we're standing right now
chef a plaza and before that I was even of way up
it is a ripple of prevent to see our local labor matter and he said twice
if if you can afford to live in a new conflict to live in and what do you want
me to do about it
and master response that we've had from I M P
counselors and only men how does that make you feel you're being made to move
out of where you live
this very upset him because obviously you believe all about finding a support
network
here has anyone shown you any support low
I would grow VeriFone enough insightful day care
for an embarrassment to them because we're treating something that this on
lock me in
after a public outcry %um Council did eventually
reprieve 40 at the 434 homes
and apologize for the treatment of the wood for the fact that they're just
fighting for a place to live
shows how far expectations have dropped
for this generation buying a property is a ridiculous dream
2032 Britain will be a country in which the majority
rentals
getting hold back key piece as well property will become
ever more difficult
am gonna
Shin him should
1
from home
this demonstration is taking place outside the property fair
in London's Olympia but this fair isn't just about London
cash-strapped councils from all over Britain are selling off land
Prada I was an investor coming here and I said I've got $15 billion
spat K thank you
I'm here I K foreign investors are now circling property markets
across the country
some believable
they're all just here
logging on basically
what they are
to private investors from abroad
I'm from Tokyo on a business people
week and I mean the property business
many
190 million
but time
kinda vanilla money to spend
however many investors interested UK properties that's why I'm here today
just community when the same industry I know you know what opportunities here
what is now becoming clear is the
hyper properties new investors after they want more and more
us to read
and that's increasingly what the market will supply
through
but is not just super rich foreign investors exploiting this trend
properties are being swept up by a growing class British super-rich
property investor
the buy to let power this man is the biggest bites lip
on the mall having green yes
yes 3
high five to the first
he owns 700 properties but he also gives
wealth seminars on how to be a buy to let millionaire
you worry what everybody's gonna say about you
you a Kennedy com a very successful entrepreneur does that make sense
kevin's business is doing very well but he's gaining at the expense of one group
in particular
first-time buyers by value
buy to let lending is growing faster than first time mortgages
it seems as though in britain or two worlds being created one is the buy to
let
market which is booming and then and the other half is everyone else is trying to
get on the property ladder into simply can't afford to get on the property
ladder in
and the and that they're related because your world is
is forcing everyone else from not being able to buy anything
so how do you feel about that yeah I mean is a fair comment that property you
get into it does
we do it right get you in a very wealthy position generally
there is a split and it's getting harder for the first time buyer to come in
whether that's because investors is arguable we then had
a payment of 31,000 pounds tax-free
principles like these people are make a landlord but everyone that succeeds
push out one more first time buyers
if everyone becomes a buy to let landlord
and won't be any property left for anyone else it's gonna
just exacerbate the problem make things even worse probability that problem is
already been
realized that we've reached that point how housing crisis
is Kevin's business opportunity as we become
a nation a rentals when I get up every morning
I do something which is a little bit different sometimes as an entrepreneur
is a good thing to be a little bit crazy a little bit different his name what I
do is
I instill self-belief I go if
I wasn't me I would so want to be
in on then I feel better already didn't
which you've got that's sweet taste the success the stars come in
then you just want more after three wine
to 3 I me
so 17 any in this as a round of applause
property equals wealthy in Britain it's at the heart
ballooning inequality increasing wealth for the super-rich
and taking it away from office
and as we struggle
party only gets better for the wealthiest in Britain
I'm on my way to a private event at Prince Harry's favorite pop
mickey kantor thrown by time and sell it to the super-rich
fashion
how's it going bashing study
50 people
going unexpected yeah but
for bashing business is booming this is Stephanie
wife a Russian multi-millionaire in London wants to spend a lot of money
diamonds think so. the jury
well what are you looking for him you like to surprise people who simply
it great this take it out was the most ridiculous thing that you've been asked
to cover in time
well he had the other day someone by now Prime you know
crusted with nine month that's the only way you can buy a brother for
than the impulsive spelled buying diamonds isn't simply an extravagance
for the super-rich
like gold all Watches their own investment insulating their well
in case the economy goes belly up again people
yes me after that a polite horse-trading they agree on a price
altogether seasonal 5450 eyes are beautiful
50 thank you very much precious a fingerprint graded
Shaq your me
for decades as we've seen government of the government issued an economic policy
to attract the super-rich to britain it was all based on a flawed idea
their wealth will trickle down to the rest the bus it didn't
economists believe it actually trickled up
from us to the super-rich into that John reservoir
private well see think in a way trickle-down was almost a way that UPS
into
redistributing wealth from all a vast 22 the richest members a society as i can
only describe it I like that because
especially in the US and the UK back in the late nineteen seventies that Pope 1
percent used to take about 10 percent of total income
on the eve of the 2008 financial crisis
this rose to 23 percent there is now a growing consensus that this trickle
up effect needs to be reversed we have indeed made rich people richer
I and testament to that arm but but clearly
everyone else is in better off in its
both immoral but also economically
idiotic the super-rich have the money
and we need it so how do we get it of but Thomas picketed has a radical
solution
instead of increasing income tax directly target the wealth that the
super-rich
it would be better treat with an annual tax unwaged
this is just a matter of common sense you know this is not a matter of just
left or right when you have been meaning
property values as a top and and booming
that took place pop for you as it up and need from me crazy
not to ask them to be no to these people
but guess who disagrees the super-rich themselves
I'm very very much in favor very low taxation
right the way across the board I think we don't need to be taxed anymore
we are paying a lot attacks if I gave you got my tax penny probably a heart
attack
so this approach shelled Robin the rich to pay the plague
don't agree with it if somebody's done well for themselves
through hard work and effort why should they be taxed through the eyeballs
the super-rich don't want higher taxes
but low taxation does not necessarily equal higher growth
since 1980 countries which have reduced tax rates for the wealthy
such as Britain and the US have not grown
any quick a than Denmark or Sweden which kept them higher
we need to change the discourse Europe because
if are your tax was good in his serve
why doesn't everyone moved to Jamaica the highest income tax rate in
that Jamaica's Piper certain if you for example look at that the Scandinavian
countries
the system there is that you taxi been heavily but did you spend up for every
aunt are quite heavily
eighty eighty percent of Danish people would say that they are happy to
pay the what pacs they're paying know this is %uh quite the amazing
on we in Britain happen low-tax culture
instilled in us through thirty years of driving taxis down
for the super-rich but it hasn't worked
the economy would be 20 percent bhikha
at the gap between the rich and poor not widened since the 1980s
now even the rich believe things must change
nobody wants to live in a society where your society is gated we have to live
behind barbed wire
we can't walk down the street no
people were very wealthy billionaires and zillionaires a every stripe do need
to encode
the price that you have to pay in higher taxes
for a safe civil society work everybody's happy and doing
better is very very low it's just not that big a deal
but it would be a massive struggle to convince any government too seriously
hammer the super-rich the drive is to attract more them here
and ever before and that's a surprising reason why
economist Matt Whittaker has been crunching the numbers on the super-rich
and come to a startling conclusion it turns out the super-rich
do have a vital role to play in our economy just not the one we were told
they were playing
take the activities at the super rich white particularly in finance and
business services
and our GDP figures simply would not have looked as good
so the super-rich have played a role in our economy
in terms of window-dressing p economic figures
you can certainly see the attraction to chances that the Exchequer up
attracting the super-rich to the UK but clearly for the majority of people in
the UK
actually what the the super-rich done is simply mask over the fact that economic
growth has not been as strong as a
is it would otherwise have been in recent years and
living standards have improved corporate significant number of people
even in the pre-crisis years and I think that a model which is based on
top one percent generating and consuming love the growth
simply isn't sustainable so if I gave you an option
all were the super-rich good for Britain yes or no
which one of those two words would you go for saner
on
when we first began to move the super-rich to britain there was no
pretence that we benefits
but then with the collapse in manufacturing in the eighties
we were told that these people would be the savior
the British economy but it was a lie
we've ended up poor was not even of snow even really the super-rich ultimately
benefited most
government allowing successive chancellors
the hell economic growth when the reality for ass
was a decade of stagnation the super-rich for a massive PR exercise
we bought tix but not anymore
next week we travel into the world that the global super-rich
how the billions that fueled their fortunes were made
from a debt finance test means other people's deaths
you yourself didn't think about the crash but you created the mechanics for
it to happen
now that's true and as luxury boons we reveal how
job insecurity has been turned into a super rich
business opportunity employment as we know it traditionally has
many people quite lazy in many ways increasing inequality
is going to change our world and the super-rich
are worried soaring pitchfork summing
things keep going the way they are for sure they're gonna come
speech