dtcwee: The Value of Nothing

How wealthy should you be? In the book " The Millionaire Next Door " and its sequels, Stanley and Danko study the feeding habits of American millionaires. Among various insights into the millionaire mind, they propose that millionaires have a higher 'wealth index' than the vast majority of people. That is, a higher net wealth relative to age and gross income. The formula to calculate your wealth index is: Wx = Net Wealth / (0.1 x Gross Annual Income x Age) Most peoples' wealth indices - I hazard to use the term 'average' - fall between 0.88 and 1.84 and so are, according to the authors, AAWs, or 'average accumulators of wealth'. Lower and higher values respectively indicate 'under' and 'prodigious' accumulators of wealth (UAWs and PAWs). How broadly does the index apply? That is, how well does it fit the real world?

When Treasurer Joe Hockey MP said on national television: "Medicare is paid for by taxpayers, so it's not free" Q&A, 19 May 2014 He seemed to allude that welfare in general is an expectation, not an entitlement, because someone else will pay for it. That view would be consistent with his 17 April 2012 Institute of Economic Affairs (London) speech titled ' The End of the Age of Entitlement ': "The problem arises however when there is a belief that one person has a right to a good or service that someone else will pay for. It is this sense of entitlement that afflicts not only individuals but also entire societies. And governments are to blame for portraying taxpayer’s money as something removed from the labour of another person." To be fair, he is not the only Australian to feel this way and would not be a successful politician if he were. The notion that recipients of medical or unemployment benefits recklessly squander public resources has ...