00:01

this is the airfield for private jets at

00:04
düsseldorf Airport entrepreneur
00:06
Christoph gröna is one of Germany's
00:08
super-rich people who have a lot of say
00:11
in this country but a rarely heard in
00:13
public corner is worth millions and
00:15
private assets and company shares all of
00:19
it and self-made
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[Music]
00:24
let's say you have 250 million you could
00:27
throw it out the window and it'll come
00:28
back in through the door you can't
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destroy it you can buy cars and they go
00:32
up in value you buy houses and real
00:34
estate is worth more you buy gold and
00:36
the gold prices go up you can't destroy
00:38
money by consuming we've been following
00:43
coasts of Kona for six months through
00:45
him and many others this film takes a
00:48
look at inequality in Germany a first
00:51
glance Germany is a rich and powerful
00:53
country full of opportunities but if you
00:56
look closely you'll see wealth is more
00:58
unevenly distributed here than in just
01:00
about any other industrialized country
01:03
success often depends on your background
01:06
[Music]
01:08
why is that do the differences threaten
01:11
social cohesion and democracy to find
01:14
some answers we go around the world and
01:16
speak to a Nobel Prize winner and other
01:19
experts who have looked deeply into the
01:21
issue of inequality
01:24
the world is at a crossroads today
01:26
people sense that the control of their
01:29
nation is being stolen from inequality
01:32
is the most pressing social problem
01:34
facing us today
01:36
welcome to the land of inequality
01:44
01:49
it's almost 8:00 in the morning in
01:52
Berlin good longer my house
01:56
the driver is already waiting when the
01:59
boss comes he has to get moving right
02:00
away Christophe Colonna a teacher son
02:03
has made his way to the top often
02:05
working 20 hours a day he's what's
02:08
called a high achiever I don't have a
02:12
driver because I'm lazier I think I'm
02:14
too good for that on the contrary I like
02:16
driving I'm a passionate motorist but
02:18
the question is what does my company pay
02:21
me for for sitting behind the steering
02:23
wheel or for working corner earns his
02:28
money with real estate hardly any
02:30
company in Germany builds as much as his
02:32
cg group does and in the housing market
02:35
the prices only go in one direction
02:37
upwards his company has just bought a
02:41
very special building the developer
02:44
wants to turn their Stieglitz a Keisel
02:45
office block into the tallest
02:47
residential tower in the city
02:52
custom governor is always up for a
02:54
challenge he wants to run all the way to
02:56
the top in less than five minutes a race
02:59
against himself 30 floors 120 meters 600
03:04
steps an employee times him with a
03:08
stopwatch it's half a minute faster than
03:15
the last time angry well it was pretty
03:20
perfect but I could still do it better I
03:30
could still remember back when I was
03:32
finishing high school I watched Boris
03:36
Becker when in Wimbledon and I thought
03:39
just you wait I'll be right up there
03:43
with you you know today's an apartment
03:48
here will cost between five and ten
03:49
thousand euros a square metre from up
03:52
here corner can look down on many of his
03:54
construction projects you can actually
03:58
follow the trail of the last 20 years
04:00
here in Berlin nearly 4,000 apartments
04:03
and another 3,000 are under construction
04:06
we've played a big role in housing
04:08
construction here one stop
04:19
this is Coronas headquarters in Berlin
04:22
every company like this is a realm with
04:25
the boss at the top and the staff
04:26
beneath him corners company now employs
04:29
500 people they all have good contracts
04:33
he says the 2015 tax statement from your
04:39
brother there's a lot to pay one of his
04:48
most important employees is his personal
04:50
assistant
04:51
Angelique Lisa you still in Dusseldorf
04:57
then he'll be going on to Zurich then
04:58
tomorrow he'll be back in Berlin Friday
05:00
and Leipzig and then he'll be away over
05:02
the long weekend and what about sleep
05:07
not a lot there are rumors of between
05:09
four and six hours I also don't think
05:11
it'll be much more depending on how busy
05:13
he is or whether he's traveling you can
05:16
tell from when his emails arrive
05:25
I'm an assistant like her has at least
05:28
the same level of stress I have the boss
05:30
is only as good as his assistant you
05:34
don't notice it with her she's only been
05:36
in the job for a few months so she's
05:38
still fresh but she also has the
05:41
Constitution for it Mario Lauterbach
05:51
guards the door downstairs he's had a
05:53
permanent contract as a security guard
05:55
for half a year benzine outside gets in
05:59
yeah but I went to school for 14 years
06:02
I speak two or three foreign languages
06:04
so if I ever got the opportunity again
06:07
and had the initiative I could imagine
06:10
becoming a lawyer or a judge that's
06:13
something that interests me a lot
06:17
latter Bach earns about 2,000 euros a
06:19
month gross that's enough for a modest
06:22
life but not much more his boss on the
06:28
other hand has been able to build up
06:30
millions of euros and assets can the
06:38
guard live on what he earns from me
06:39
that's what counts if he can then I've
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done my job as an employer if I pay a
06:45
guard so little that he can't live off a
06:46
salary then I've done something wrong so
06:49
you think comparing him with you is
06:51
nonsense of course it's nonsense I've
06:53
stayed home from work due to sickness
06:54
three times in 30 years ask my guard how
06:57
many times he's been out sick if I have
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a slipped disc I come to work if I have
07:02
a 40 degree fever I come to work if my
07:04
wife quarrels with me and keeps me up
07:05
all night I still come to work ask my
07:07
security guard comparing us isn't fair
07:10
or correct justification is miscarriage
07:12
dismissed fish dish will he ever be able
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to afford a house with a pool of course
07:18
not but he does not want that I know my
07:21
security guards I know my caretakers
07:26
would you like to trade places with her
07:28
groaner didn't say yes right away I
07:37
guess if I had to answer spontaneously
07:39
my first answer would be no and I
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believe if I thought about it for a long
07:43
time
07:43
it would still be no that's actually got
07:46
a lot less to do with him as a person or
07:48
what he does it's just a question of my
07:50
own attitude I wouldn't want to have
07:52
that much responsibility would you like
07:55
to have a house with the pool yes but
07:59
then maybe not here in Germany where in
08:03
Greece so whereas the one can only dream
08:07
of a house with a pool the other can
08:10
afford several properties Kristoff
08:14
corner has a villa in Berlin and a
08:16
penthouse in Cologne with a view of the
08:17
cathedral but little time off
08:22
how much distance should there be
08:24
between those in the middle and those at
08:26
the top and how big is the gap in
08:28
reality there's a lot of data about
08:33
poverty in the poor but very little
08:35
about the rich estate asset registry
08:38
would help but there isn't one and so a
08:41
team from the German Institute for
08:43
Economic Research is trying to find out
08:45
more if you try to represent the wealth
08:52
distribution in Germany in a graphic way
08:53
you can do it quite simply on an a4
08:56
sheet of paper and a few look you can
08:59
imagine a coordinate system like at
09:01
school with an x-axis and a y-axis and
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with the y-axis this here I show the
09:07
amount of wealth you can easily display
09:10
ninety-five percent of the population on
09:13
this sheet here in the - area because a
09:17
part of the population is in debt or
09:18
even insolvent and then there's a
09:20
relatively broad area where assets are
09:22
virtually zero until it finally starts
09:25
to increase exponentially at the outer
09:27
edge instructors this describes 95
09:30
percent of the population but the
09:31
question is of course how far away is
09:33
the richest person from this manager
09:37
magazine puts the Reimann family
09:39
business at the top of its rich list for
09:41
Germany the family's estimated worth
09:43
thirty three billion euros so if 95
09:47
percent of Germans are graphed on an a4
09:49
sheet that aemon's would be a whopping
09:51
six point six kilometers further away
09:59
every era has its mother lode in the
10:02
past car makers made big money earlier
10:05
still the families who owned the big
10:07
trading houses became hugely wealthy now
10:10
real estate developers have joined them
10:13
gustaf corners rice began here in
10:15
leipzig 20 years ago he invested when
10:19
prices below
10:20
it was all ruins or scrap
10:25
[Music]
10:28
I love everything you see to the left
10:30
and right has been redeveloped built and
10:32
rented out by us his company says it now
10:37
builds one in three new apartments in
10:39
the city
10:40
but coast of Cavanaugh's Korea has been
10:42
unusual he was not born a boss he used
10:45
to work on construction sites himself
10:53
every other stone has been replaced here
10:55
with expertise with a sense of
10:57
proportion to create an entirety and it
11:00
helps if you have worked on scaffolding
11:02
like this yourself I can do masonry I
11:04
can lay concrete I can lay steel I can
11:06
plaster walls lay tiles put up the sods
11:08
that was my career the company started
11:12
out as christophe grew nabokov Steen's
11:14
to building services then we took on
11:16
specialized construction then contractor
11:18
work and project development until we
11:19
became the company that we are today
11:24
Kona has also invested in this former
11:27
industrial district
11:38
this is the class family Thomas and
11:41
Kirkland with their two children they
11:43
live in a rented apartment around the
11:45
corner they wouldn't mind having one
11:47
more room well you have to say it's an
11:51
oasis in a built-up environment each
11:54
building has nine classic apartments and
11:56
two penthouses one large and one small
11:58
at the top I'd like to show you all the
12:02
floor plans in the trailer so we're
12:07
about where the woman is right no the
12:10
house is next to that the houses
12:12
themselves or at least 20 meters further
12:16
back to the penthouse apartments there
12:19
we have a four room 123 square metre
12:21
apartment with a 60 square meter roof
12:23
terrace I think we need to be realistic
12:26
the penthouse isn't what we need or what
12:28
we can afford I take a classic four-room
12:30
apartment with a balcony or shared
12:31
garden I think that's what we'd be
12:33
looking for that would interest us then
12:40
let's take a look at a floor plan
12:41
parents would practically have a
12:42
separate wing here a sandpit playground
12:45
and recreation area so in general the
12:51
target group is young families yes
12:54
typical young families give me some idea
12:57
of the scale I'd be interested in a
12:59
four-room apartment first floor would
13:01
come at three thousand four hundred
13:03
fifty euros the foreign apartment would
13:07
cost four hundred and fifty thousand
13:08
euros to buy the classes are a typical
13:11
middle-class family they both have good
13:13
jobs buying property used to be the way
13:16
to start building up assets was a
13:21
Matthias tarbush at the spoke we were 30
13:24
before we could even start to think
13:25
about our old age and accumulating
13:27
wealth to date now I'm almost 40 and we
13:32
still haven't managed to put away much
13:34
in terms of reserves I even come up with
13:37
the minimum amount of capital so that
13:39
banks will be able to give us a loan a
13:41
sticking point the screens not food the
13:44
other
13:45
fueled 94 percent of buyers here aren't
13:48
from Saxony that means this is currently
13:50
a market where normal Saxons can't
13:52
participate even each Michi encode the
13:57
class family isn't the only one with
13:58
little chance of owning their own place
14:00
in all the richest 5% of Germans own
14:04
half the apartments and houses every
14:08
second person owns no property at all
14:10
most Germans rent and are having to pay
14:13
more and more for living space the
14:18
purchase price of an 80 square metre
14:20
apartment has soared in the last 10
14:22
years leipzig is an extreme case only
14:30
10% of the people here own real estate
14:33
60% of all new buildings and 94% of
14:36
refurbished all buildings have gone to
14:38
bias from out of town
14:44
[Music]
14:49
don't you want to get your shoes dirty
14:51
mister I can feel pretty fastidious
14:55
while the Klaus family hesitates others
14:58
are snapping up the houses on the market
15:00
did he make a killing again he did did
15:04
he get another bargain we keep getting
15:06
repeat offenders here they buy one house
15:08
after another this is the third right
15:10
it's his second his second complete one
15:13
and the apartments before we went for a
15:16
meal and I said it won't cost less than
15:18
4.5 and he got it for 3 well I'm crazy
15:20
right today the time is ripe for us to
15:27
make money here with the standard and my
15:30
company urgently needs it that's not a
15:34
crime no I don't think it is such a bad
15:37
thing the real estate market is
15:41
symptomatic it enables those on top to
15:44
make more profits while others can
15:46
hardly afford to live in their own city
15:48
anymore behind this is the more basic
15:56
question does profit for the one mean
15:58
loss for the others
16:05
today's typical property buyers are rich
16:08
people well-off retirees yes and
16:11
investors the others like Thomas Klaus
16:16
and his colleagues can only look on
16:22
[Music]
16:23
honestly when I look at what's being
16:25
built in the sluicey district I need a
16:28
practical apartment to live in and I
16:29
don't think they're building them to be
16:31
lived in they're building them as
16:32
investments and I can't join in that
16:34
game none of my colleagues can't either
16:38
that probably also creates housing that
16:40
doesn't meet the needs of the city and
16:42
most of the population scary because
16:44
many people are being left behind
16:46
banks digna there are many parts of life
16:52
see who are nowadays you find one place
16:54
with high priced apartments and another
16:56
where the people who just couldn't
16:57
afford to live in them anymore had to
16:59
move to it's a crappy situation when you
17:03
say that for whatever reason you have to
17:04
get out of your apartment but you'd like
17:06
to stay in your neighborhood but that's
17:07
not possible
17:11
[Music]
17:14
in a neighborhood in the eastern part of
17:17
Berlin bigger schlosser has been the
17:19
scene of an escalating conflict between
17:21
residents who are afraid of losing out
17:23
economically and the man they accused of
17:26
making the deal of his life here Gustov
17:29
kkona arrives and his security guard
17:31
stays close by when he's here he usually
17:34
gets police protection
17:37
I'm going to be disturbing your lunch
17:39
break today so let me at least say good
17:41
morning Korea has been the focus of an
17:46
angry backlash his opponents filmed the
17:48
first encounter with residents and
17:50
protesters let me ask you is this a
18:02
dialogue it was nice whether they were
18:09
meeting me for the first time we could
18:11
call it the birth of the boogeyman they
18:13
got to see an entrepreneur who has
18:15
arguments on his side and won't back
18:16
down
18:33
and it's precisely this stupid thinking
18:36
that prevails in society there's always
18:38
a direct connection he makes money and
18:41
he's become wealthy so we must have
18:42
stolen it from someone it's all about
18:45
politics he's charging 12 euros a square
18:48
metre nobody can afford that well we
18:50
have smaller apartments 35 40 50 square
18:53
meters which any nurse can afford even
18:55
at 14 euros a square metre as long as
18:58
it's well made has great light she'd
19:00
love to live there instead of in 60
19:02
square meters over there for 8 euros a
19:03
square metre Clara knows that many of
19:08
his workmen or the police officers who
19:10
protect him had difficulties finding
19:12
affordable housing but he says his
19:15
millions of square meters are not the
19:16
cause of the problem but part of the
19:18
solution
19:22
[Music]
19:25
how do you strike the right balance
19:26
between rewarding achievement and
19:29
letting everyone share in it what
19:34
consequences does inequality have for
19:37
society
19:41
the real general finding is that
19:43
inequality being a way of making people
19:46
feel more distance from one another
19:49
stretches the social fabric it phrased
19:52
the social fabric it pulls us apart from
19:56
one another physically experientially
19:59
and psychologically there's nothing
20:01
necessarily wrong with inequality of
20:04
course people have an unequal endowments
20:06
of intelligence and beauty and they have
20:09
different parents and where I start to
20:12
worry as a sociologist is when people
20:14
accumulate dynastic wealth and dynastic
20:18
wealth means a lot of money that gets
20:21
transferred down through generations
20:22
because that starts to stabilize systems
20:25
of inequality across society and that
20:28
constricts the opportunities available
20:31
to everybody else coast of Ghana may
20:35
have worked his way to the top but even
20:37
for him
20:37
there's still a glass ceiling you can't
20:40
buy your way into the world of dynastic
20:42
wealth you can only be born into it
20:48
Kirsti on fly - best all-time traces his
20:52
family tree back to the year 1135 he's a
20:56
descendant of the fogers one of the
20:57
richest families of the Middle Ages you
21:06
can always use a winch to pull in the
21:08
deer and you've killed a stag which
21:10
normally weighs well over 100 kilos then
21:13
you need mechanical help to get it into
21:14
the vehicle would look a bit odd when
21:19
you drive around towing a dead deer in a
21:21
trailer people sometimes find that a
21:24
little strange the car he's is to
21:31
transport dead stags as an old Austrian
21:34
military vehicle when bechtolsheim uses
21:37
it in the 300 hectares of forest he owns
21:40
somewhere in central Germany we're not
21:42
allowed to say exactly where back was
21:45
his condition for letting us film him
21:48
discretion is everything why had some
21:56
visits in the morning a forest is a
21:58
wonderful feeling
21:58
because you have the run of it so to
22:00
speak
22:10
Keltie I think it was the publisher of
22:13
deed site countess den Hoff who once
22:16
said you always have to own everything
22:18
you love I can comprehend the question
22:20
philosophically but if I answer
22:22
according to my natural instincts I'd
22:24
say yes I like owning things that I find
22:26
beautiful man rush to gardenia demonize
22:29
Shirin imprinted by citizens
22:51
not Eagles it had the great inequality
22:54
that exists room on your folks is wanted
22:59
for the economy and it's unavoidable
23:01
obviously if you're an entrepreneur and
23:03
you have inherited something and keep it
23:05
running properly you will have more than
23:06
someone who's just an employee
23:08
do you think that things are by and
23:11
large fair in Germany yes by and large I
23:15
do I don't sense any real feeling of
23:17
injustice and the part of most people on
23:19
the street lights Lord after stars it
23:22
can be not having
23:29
during the week from best Hawthorne
23:31
works with a view of the main river in
23:33
Frankfurt he heads what he calls the
23:36
family office
23:37
this exclusive establishment is
23:39
essentially what used to be known as a
23:41
private bank perhaps you should add that
23:45
this is one of the few old Frankfurt
23:47
patrician houses that survived the
23:49
Second World War intact
23:52
this old terrazzo floor or this handle
23:54
this banister you don't often find them
23:56
in Frankfort today these display cases
24:01
you can see the remnants of what once
24:03
made patrician dining culture so special
24:05
Oscar Moffitt you have to imagine a
24:13
family office as just that an office
24:16
that takes care of the interests and all
24:19
the financial needs of a single family
24:21
or an individual that ranges from let's
24:25
say five or ten million to several
24:27
hundred million not even the employees
24:32
know all the names of the bank's
24:33
clientele the wealthy come via personal
24:37
recommendations they know that from
24:39
battle time will offer them something
24:40
that normal savers can't get from a bank
24:42
these days interest and returns on their
24:45
money we've done work together to create
24:50
an asset structure one for the future
24:52
let's say you want to invest so and so
24:55
much in real estate and with real estate
24:57
you also have apartments and commercial
24:59
buildings and maybe even logistics stick
25:02
stocks it's maybe thirty percent you
25:06
might put 10% into pensions and 10% in
25:09
cash the rest is invested in other
25:11
things private equity forestry and so on
25:14
we help families to maintain their
25:16
fortunes for generations that is what we
25:19
aspire to the legend surrounding
25:26
germany's post-war economic recovery
25:28
sometimes and evokes the notion of a
25:30
kind of monetary zero-hour when everyone
25:33
supposedly had to start from scratch if
25:35
you wanted to get rich you had to work
25:38
your way up according to the myth
25:40
what's photomask Noveck shortly before
25:43
the first world war a former interior
25:45
ministry official published an almanac
25:47
of millionaires in buda Shanda in these
25:52
books you still find numerous names that
25:54
look very familiar today
26:01
if you look at the lists of the wealthy
26:03
you get the impression that old money
26:05
plays a huge role among the big fortunes
26:07
today I'm hiding guns awesome for moving
26:09
our biases line
26:16
the ups transition dean dean the gap
26:18
between those who only have work do you
26:21
and those who belong to the upper class
26:23
has increased enormously if i took for
26:26
clue such i think if people understood
26:29
how how deeply unfair economic
26:32
competition was in the modern global
26:34
economy they really would be up in arms
26:37
[Music]
26:42
it's the end of Thomas class's shift
26:45
after visiting the construction site he
26:48
and his wife considered the real estate
26:49
agents offer at the moment the family
26:52
lives essentially from his income his
26:55
wife has reduced her workers to take
26:57
care of the children
26:58
[Music]
27:05
the children are eager to tell their
27:08
father about the events of the day they
27:10
visited their grandmother once the
27:14
children go to bed the parents talk
27:16
about buying the apartment in the middle
27:18
of the city
27:21
when this dish walked on join us mommy
27:23
first you are all enthusiastic and a bit
27:25
dazzled by the idea and the beautiful
27:27
project and by the question about whom
27:30
the project is aimed at well at young
27:32
families like you on the one hand that's
27:36
flattering but on the other hand when
27:38
you then hear the price and think about
27:39
it again these are dimensions where I
27:41
say that a family like us are out of it
27:43
we aren't expecting an inheritance or
27:46
any other sources of outside money we
27:48
have to earn it
27:49
on a monthly basis four hundred fifty
27:53
thousand euros I don't even know how
27:55
many annual incomes that would be as I
27:57
income in the severan so at some point
28:00
you start to worry that the step
28:02
downwards into the lower middle class is
28:04
much closer than the step up into the
28:06
upper middle class I think everyone has
28:10
the same feeling I'm lucky I have a big
28:13
employer I feel like I have won the
28:15
jackpot in Leipzig but that doesn't mean
28:17
that we can keep up with the
28:19
developments in the real estate market
28:20
being mauled
28:22
the classes are not poor but they belong
28:25
to a group that has come under pressure
28:27
in recent years the middle class the
28:30
people who have no fortunes but have to
28:32
work for prosperity in recent months
28:38
thousands have sent in comments online
28:40
for this film project under the hashtag
28:43
on Graceland for example they've
28:47
reported their salaries an industrial
28:49
clerk in the car industry 1600 euros net
28:52
a social worker in a rehab clinic 1648
28:56
net a civil engineer nearly 2000 net a
29:00
medical specialist work 12 years of
29:02
training 2768 net a net income of 3500
29:08
euros puts a single person in Germany's
29:10
top 10% of earners accumulated wealth is
29:14
particularly unequal half the population
29:17
has less than 17 thousand euros in
29:19
reserve that would let them buy a
29:20
base-model VW Golf all shoes and
29:23
clothing for 1.6 children from birth to
29:26
the age of 18 or just 3.3 square meters
29:31
of a newly built apartment in Frankfurt
29:39
the vast majority of the gains and
29:41
income have gone to people at the very
29:44
top of the income distribution in the
29:46
top 1% of the income distribution and
29:48
incomes for people in the middle class
29:50
and below the middle class have
29:52
essentially not increased or have even
29:53
fallen at the bottom very large middle
29:56
class is necessary for peaceful and
29:58
democratic societies and if you now have
30:01
polarization in rich countries and if
30:04
you have shrinkage of the middle classes
30:06
then you really have a problem or you
30:09
are really moving to a new territory
30:10
that is just unexplored yet in u.s. the
30:14
question can really a successful
30:16
democracy exist with very polarized of
30:21
citizenship with lots of people who are
30:23
rich but also lots of people who are
30:26
below the middle-class level the world
30:28
is at a crossroads today that if it
30:31
doesn't try to write a new social
30:34
contract those who have been hurt the
30:39
many many people who have been hurt will
30:42
repel
30:45
[Applause]
30:54
there are a few places where all social
30:56
strata come together
31:00
but even where they do exist it doesn't
31:03
mean that the pool the rich and the
31:05
middle classes actually meet how are
31:07
they doing they're playing tactically
31:13
Costa Fiona has paid for a place in a
31:15
luxury suite in Leipzig main soccer
31:18
stadium
31:25
we in the luxury area of paying for
31:28
their cheaper tickets through our high
31:29
contributions everyone makes their own
31:31
contribution
31:32
maybe that guy pays 20 years for a
31:34
ticket I'm actually paying 2,000 for
31:36
mine there's a certain justice there now
31:45
at the family office in Frankfort
31:47
the bank's own Forester has come to call
31:50
I brought all the figures let's start
31:55
with Finland Christian fund bechtolsheim
31:59
has been using his clients money to buy
32:01
up forests in Finland New Zealand and
32:03
Uruguay what's benefited us you can see
32:09
it here in the timber prices in Finland
32:11
the development last year spruce and
32:14
pine have seen a huge increase since
32:16
2016 and that works to our advantage the
32:19
Sweden solution copy mm-hmm authorities
32:23
German forests are just insanely
32:24
expensive there are very few areas
32:27
available and when an area opens up
32:29
people jump on it like crazy surprises a
32:32
double tripled quadrupled over the past
32:33
10 or 15 years of course this is also
32:37
due to the low interest rates that we
32:38
currently have people are looking for
32:41
everything they can find where can you
32:43
invest money where can you safely
32:45
invested or invested very profitably
32:47
it's an intrinsic conflict can we
32:53
briefly talked about Uruguay how does
32:55
the return look relative to our plans
32:59
we're doing quite well Uruguay is our
33:02
most conservative projects this is a new
33:08
global form of capitalism financial
33:11
capitalism
33:14
to find out how the system works
33:17
sociology stat Brooke Harrington first
33:19
trained as an asset manager it's a
33:23
global profession and that's why I had
33:26
to go to 18 different countries you know
33:28
from the Cayman Islands and the BVI all
33:31
the way out to the Cook Islands in the
33:32
middle of the South Pacific to the
33:34
Seychelles and Mauritius to New York and
33:38
London and Switzerland all over one of
33:42
the things you learn in wealth
33:43
management school is to regard the world
33:46
as kind of a legal financial shopping
33:49
mall and you go to each different state
33:51
in the world the way you would go to
33:53
shops in a mall picking out the laws and
33:56
the conditions that are most favorable
33:58
for what you want to do or what your
34:00
client wants to do with a particular
34:01
asset so what you have to know is a
34:04
wealth manager is where's the best place
34:06
to get the laws that you need to do what
34:09
you want to do with the art collection
34:11
or the yacht or the family business the
34:14
family office is the starting point of a
34:17
global investment chain the wealthy
34:19
entrust from best all time with their
34:21
money among other things he invests with
34:24
these fund managers they send it all
34:27
around the world ensuring it earns much
34:29
more interest than say a normal savings
34:32
account I'm glad that you're here to say
34:37
it at the outset we are really satisfied
34:39
with the performance you have achieved
34:41
so far currently we are at nine point
34:43
three percent since the beginning of the
34:45
year they say the secret of their fund
34:49
is automated investment they have an
34:52
algorithm that scans the global economic
34:54
situation and converts it into traffic
34:56
light signals green means the computer
34:59
buys a lot of shares and when the signal
35:01
jumps to yellow will read fewer yeah the
35:07
curve is flat and you can see it because
35:09
the signal isn't dark green
35:11
we do the market timing we are the ones
35:14
who ensure that a customer can re-enter
35:16
the market because we operate without
35:18
emotion
35:18
we have no emotions our entire set up
35:21
our entire algorithm is purely
35:23
quantitative normal geopolitical
35:28
upheavals such as those in Syria or
35:30
Ukraine none of them has such a global
35:33
economic dimension that it could really
35:34
knock the world economy out of sync and
35:38
that's our benchmark where we would
35:40
intervene in the traffic light it has to
35:43
be an event that knocks the world
35:44
economy off-balance and at least in
35:46
history no conventional war has done
35:48
that many people would now say here are
35:54
six well-to-do people sitting at the
35:56
table and all they're doing is trying to
35:58
increase their wealth for many you are
36:00
kind of an economic bloat what would you
36:03
say to them frankly nothing because no
36:06
one ever asks net I think it's pretty
36:07
tricky in Germany everyone thinks he can
36:16
join Deutsche Bank as a trainee at 18
36:18
then become an authorised signatory and
36:20
then eventually a department head and
36:21
then retire at the age of 65 as a
36:23
class-b director with a palm tree in the
36:25
office and a chair with arm rests that
36:27
world is definitely over that's for sure
36:36
in the context of modern investor
36:41
capitalism there's been this massive
36:43
shift of power from labor to investment
36:48
it's called financialization dissonance
36:50
cloud these are very clear elements of
36:53
an artificial world for which only an
36:55
abstract amount of money counts a
36:57
vanished but not the quality of life
37:00
locally among the peoples in the markets
37:03
in society now you can get rich from
37:08
being a rentier capitalist that is not
37:10
from your work not from the sweat of
37:12
your brow as they say but from putting
37:14
your money at the right place and at the
37:17
right time
37:18
the right things
37:31
Tomasz class has been working as an
37:34
engineer for siemens for nine years he
37:37
sits on the works council and could
37:39
imagine staying here until he retires
37:41
with or without a palm tree we have
37:49
employees who have been trained here
37:50
they've worked here all their lives it's
37:53
like a family it's not just work it's a
37:55
bit of family and a bit of life the
37:57
staff and I are very attached to what we
37:59
do here together during the day good
38:02
mind some - just recently Siemens posted
38:06
six billion euros in annual profits but
38:09
then worrying rumors began circulating
38:11
investors were reportedly putting
38:13
pressure on the company saying this
38:16
plant wasn't fit for the future
38:22
actually nothing is secure even everyday
38:25
life living in a rented apartment is
38:27
insecure we're currently secured by a
38:29
single income and that is now on very
38:31
very shaky legs you suddenly realize
38:34
that when you get a situation like the
38:36
one we're in now students really insist
38:42
[Music]
38:51
a few streets away from the Siemens
38:54
plant cassava corner has invited all his
38:56
staff to the company Christmas party he
38:59
just bought this old post office railway
39:01
station
39:05
his wife Anna and his youngest daughter
39:07
are the first to show up then the boss
39:14
arrives a lot is riding on him his
39:18
employees are also worried for much the
39:20
same reasons as Thomas Klaus in recent
39:23
weeks the financial Press reported that
39:25
investors have taken over 50% of the
39:27
company's shares
39:32
[Applause]
39:40
before though
39:41
dear friends family it's amazing to be
39:46
able to stand among you you are my
39:49
motivation seasoned minam will to pursue
39:53
is easy where my strength yeah I think
39:58
you have been convinced by a letter from
39:59
the management
40:00
perhaps signed by me that we are still
40:02
the same family no matter who owns the
40:04
shares no matter who will have a say and
40:06
so forth yes we do Capital Markets yes
40:14
we have to refinance ourselves yes we
40:17
have to reposition ourselves I will also
40:22
be doing that no matter in what post I
40:24
will be available to you in the future
40:25
what we have achieved so far as to be a
40:28
truly great and big family have a nice
40:32
evening and thank you
40:37
at some point every company reaches a
40:40
certain size where its banking and
40:43
financing structures are no longer
40:45
sufficient I have to deal with the
40:48
financial institutions and all that if I
40:51
have that under control then I will
40:53
remain in my post but if I don't then
40:55
I'll be voted out faster than you can
40:57
possibly imagine
40:59
[Music]
41:05
it looks like the whole world is being
41:07
shaken up by big money it's a game that
41:10
few can play and even fewer can win but
41:16
when those at the top stopped a jump
41:17
ship and those below have to worry about
41:20
a crash what effect does that have on a
41:23
country today and in the future
41:26