Who wants to be a millionaire? Well, if you’re one of the 35% of the UK population renting long-term or of the 20% officially living in poverty, the answer’s ‘yes, please’. For many others, billionaire-dom is, 75 years after that song was written, the level to which one might aspire. And the way to get close to either level is now, as it was a couple of hundred years ago, to inherit from rich parents or grandparents. The industrial and oil-drilling revolution self-made rich are, quite literally a dying breed, and as is well-known, both Trump and Musk had silver spoons handed over from birth from which to build their fortunes. Russia famously wiped out its wealthy and privileged and took their riches for the benefit of the people. Their full-circle came rather more quickly some 80 years later, with the rise of the oil-rich oligarchs whose kids and grandkids will continue to keep the world’s luxury goods manufacturers in business; most from Dubai. In Jane Austen’s day, to find a ‘single man of large fortune’ was the surest way to get rich. History does not always repeat, but it certainly rhymes.
“Trade war: Stock markets rally as Trump rows back on Fed and China threats”
Yet another reminder, should one be needed, of how quickly things can and will change. A nod and a wink in the right direction from himself and/ or an underling can provide the solace the money men crave and turn a plummet into, if not a soar at this stage, then certainly a bounce.
