King calls for creative ways to tackle inequality

[AshLeaf]

AIBU to think this displays a breathtaking lack of self-awareness from one of the richest men in the world?

Well, how about you make a start with that Charles?!

Why do royalists always say "Anyone fancy President Blair?"
Why do they never say "Anyone fancy President Attenbrough"?
or "Anyone fancy President Winston. or President Hale"?

They're always the same names: Blair, Trump or Boris Johnson. Sometimes it's Liz Truss.

And they miss the point that if Blair, or Johnson, or Trump, or Truss happened to be the first born of the monarch we would be stuck with them.

Edit: look how close we came to King Andrew…

I suspect this would not work in practice, even if we just talked about a cash transfer rather than getting into the difficulties of turning big jewels into money.

There have been a fair number of studies done in economics on what happens when people get large windfalls of money, and most of the time, they don't have much lasting positive impact.

Even wealth transfer through state services seems limited in what it can do in that way. It can make their lives better if it's a well run service, but often people remain more or less within the same economic situation.

I don't think there is much any rich individual, alone, can do that will tackle inequality at the root.

But if assets were transferred to the state, the money could be spent on eg schools or hospitals or services which could genuinely help address inequality - it doesn’t need to mean give everyone a tenner (or a ruby!)

But your idea really is equivalent to giving everyone a tenner. His wealth is very small when compared to the ongoing costs of running a health and education system. It would be gone pretty quickly. Whereas small systemic changes continue to accrue benefit over the long term, which adds up.

Maybe this will be a way to open our eyes about inequality and the monarchy. Apparently the Palace worked hard to try and suppress this reporting. I wonder how 'creative' the truth will be, Charles....

For the first time, Dispatches can reveal the secret millions the Royals are earning.

For years they've kept the details of some of their wealth a secret but now we can reveal who is paying them and for what.

Watch on @Channel4 on Saturday 2nd November at 8.10pm.

x.com/C4Dispatches/status/1851647186368634898?t=2Xdcaw8RxuBomfIaHw8whA&s=19

For example, it takes 100 Billion per year to run the UK education system. If the King's private wealth is 600 Million, then his entire wealth is six one-thousandths of the amount that is spent on education alone in a single year. Not enough to even register.

The whole royalty thing gives an odd illusion of political power and wealth, but it's actually small bikkies. A distraction from where the real wealth and power is, really.

Hes actually right... he means you can't just throw money at inequality, we need provisions and programmes to be installed which will actually make a difference! Propper mental health provisions in the NHS, outreach to communities in poverty, engagement with vulnerable youths in the cities.

The Princes Trust does amazing work with young people and have helped many get back on their feet or get started. So I think he's got a lot more insight than most into this kind of thing.

I suggest you should look at what Rory Stewart has written about on this subject. He is involved in charities overseas that give direct cash payments to end-users and they have a transformative effect.

I think what people don’t realise is that abject poverty is expensive and a small cushion can allow everyone breathing space and to budget more effectively. You need a little money to be in a position to create more in other words.

He also believes that world poverty could be eradicated pretty quickly and that it wouldn’t take as much radical change as we have been led to believe.

Well that's very true, but the key is having the structures in place to make sure that the people who most need it get it. It's far too easy for this type of money to be diverted. Hence structural change.

I will be very interested to watch this.

I just don’t understabd for example how it is equitable in this day and age that the King can receive money from the Duchy of Lancaster, which covers more than 18,000 hectares of land in areas such as Lancashire and Yorkshire, as well as property in central London. Worth £654m,

It generates about £20m a year in profits which as far as I understand the King is allowed full access to and can spend privately. He can’t have any money from the sale of the assets but benefits from the income they generate.

I don’t understand why the general public cannot benefit to the tune of £20 million a year?

Its heartening to see that so many posters see through her lies that the population has been fed for years about the royals .Why must their wills be secret ? Because their vast wealth must be secret or there would be even more of an outcry about the half a billion they are now taking from the people yearly

The few royalists who have defended the Windsors are repeating in the same lies they’ve been fed for years
oh and btw the Windsors do not own the crown estates . The state does. But lizzie got it changed so the Windsors would take a percentage and royalists think they are generously handing the rest back to the state! Exactly what the royal gaslighting wants you to think .
Interesting that one royals poster described the crown estate as ‘farmers’ . What a nice image . Except it’s mainly made up of shopping centres, garages , factories . That’s where the money is . And the Windsors do not manage it . They sit one of the plonkers on the board but they have no control ( they were found to be abusing it when they did ) . But they take the money

Charlie pay your inheritance tax and all other taxes and shut up . Tell your even more obnoxious son to do the same

He's an idiot if he thinks that.

Loans or gifts that are carefully targeted can in some cases have huge positive results for poor people, sure.

Especially in places "overseas" where people have access to very little in the way of community support.

That does not mean that redistributing large amounts of cash to people will somehow change the nature of rich vs poor.

It does nothing to change the underlying elements that mean you get some very rich and some very poor people in society. Even in places where that difference is much lessened, you still get some who are quite wealthy and some who aren't, whether you are talking about the Nordic countries or communist experiments in China or Cuba, or anywhere else.

And large, random windfalls? Ultimately they typically make no difference to families after a few years - in fact some end up worse off.

Yeah - if people are really worried about the super wealthy hoarding money, the royals aren't top of the list. As far as the monarch goes, his or her power is actually much more limited than those who have far more money and a lot more ability to manipulate politics. To some extent the whole structure of constitutional monarchy is a way to limit the power of wealth and political positions, capitalism took kind of an end run around that.

Didn't the Panama Papers leaks reveal how much The Late Queen had in offshore tax havens as well? It will not be a big story in the UK because the press will suppress it. The press, who's main job, and the reason they are allowed to get away with as much as they do, is to hold truth to power. However, in exchange for a slap up lunch at Buck House will throw it all in the bin or bury it somewhere amongst all the stories about Meghans failed jam business or something.

@Ukisgaslit Bravo!

There is much that is wrong with how the Monarchy operates and just a simple one is... pay your taxes, unseal your Wills, be open to the FOI Act that the rest of public servants are, and stop hiding your wealth.

Forbes estimated the RF were worth £23billion and Charles's personal fortune to be £2billion and that was back in 2021.

I know they are part of the fabric of our society but they could be pared back to the absolute minimum to just perform the necessary tasks.

Please don't talk about tourism, that is a myth!

Charles cannot talk about inequality when he is literally at the top of the tree.

Maybe he and the rest could pay inheritance tax . That would be a start. The money raised could help William and his plight to end homelessness

So agree.

The media hold back because Royals give good clicks. Little Charlotte made some cakes, Kate's stunning dress, Charles looks a bit peaky, Camilla is a rock... and so on.
The media are merciless in their Meghan tear down, and sycophantic in their revering of our Royals.

Yes the Panama papers did indeed reveal an uncomfortable truth for the Queen. Duchy of Cornwall and Duchy of Lancaster funds deposited in tax havens to avoid tax.

Very murky. Bear in mind the Paradise Papers only came about because of a hack followed by a leak to some German journalists. Just imagine what we don't know about...

Rory Stewart is about as far from an idiot as you can get.

I’m working atm so can’t link but have a look on You Tube for his Ted talk on the subject of extreme poverty.

I have been to a Q&A session with Rory Stewart. He is highly intelligent, his talks about the History of Israel and where we are now are hugely interesting

Rory Stewart an idiot?
Bloody hell, read it all now.

@Hufflemuff
”Hes actually right... he means you can't just throw money at inequality”

well could we start with the Windsors throwing back some the money they’ve creamed off the uk population? Maybe start with that ?

If this call for them to pay their taxes gets louder I expect something along the lines of :
’ The king would like to plan to possibly consider the possibility of contemplating reviewing the overview of his expenses and blah blah blah …

Do nothing , waffle and hope everyone gets distracted with the latest hate fest the tabloids use to distract the sheep . It has worked so far ( looking a bit threadbare now though )

This. I honestly don't understand how Charles can talk about inequality with a straight face when it is the monarchy itself that underpins and legitimises inequality in this country.

Those who claim that his personal wealth wouldn't make much of a dent, are missing the point. It is the principle that offends me, of a man who is largely exempt from the taxes the rest of us are obliged to pay (including exemption from inheritance tax on the vast fortune he gained from his mother). And that is before getting onto his son, presenting himself as the solution to homelessness: 'I don't like homelessness so I have 4 homes just to stop it happening'.

I'm afraid that however sincere they might be, their positions ensure that they can only ever be part of the solution not the problem. And their greed is sickening.

It is true that the media conspire with the RF in relentlessly going after Harry and especially Meghan; even though they left nearly 5 years ago and are the very ones who, unlike the others, no longer cost the public everything. The level and longevity of the hate is sinister, and an obvious distraction from the disfunctionality of the system.

Well, they should. But 20 million per year is nothing once spread across the population. For any real benefit, you need ALL very wealthy people to be making that kind of contribution.