KAT, again

Sir.

The latest edicts from road police have spurred me into action.

Immediately unpon hearing the news that motorists were to be fined for having dirty cars, I rushed outside to my car - no, not to check whether it was dirty, or that I have a helmet (?) for my daughter, but to be sure that I had 10 leva safely tucked in between my driving documents. Perhaps they are trying to give a hint to our garrulous mayor to clean up his city? Of course, since Sofia drivers are so law-abiding, we know that the KAT policemen have little else to do, and maybe we should applaud this attempt to clean up Sofia's image.

David Clark, Sofia

Sir

Millionaires, millionaires, day after day we watch and read about millionaires, millionaire actors, millionaire singers, heiress millionaires and others. Every day, the number of millionaires in the world rises at incredible speed. This "millionaire" phenomenon has become very important in global society, in fact, sometimes millionaires and billionaires are front pages news before domestic or global issues. In relation, large number of companies, newspapers and TV stations do detailed research about their treasured assets.

But, are they all really millionaires?

A millionaire, according to the encyclopaedia, is an individual who resides in a household whose net worth or wealth exceeds one million units of any currency. However, it can also be a person who owns one million units of any currency in cash, bank account or savings account.

There has been rapid development of the global economy from the 19th century to today. It has come to the point when being a millionaire does not have the prestige that it did before. Now, there are plenty of millionaires and billionaires around the globe, and because of that they needed new terms to distinguish themselves from others.

As a result, today we have multimillionaires (net worth of two or more millions), hectomillionaires (net worth of hundred and more millions) and billionaires (net worth of one or more billions). In the past 10 years, with the enormous growth of hectomillionaires and billionaires, millionaires or multimillionaires who have few millions are considered middle-class millionaires; in the contemporary word; they are just not super-rich.

Looking at this report, the World Wealth Report 2007 (the report on individuals with a net worth of at least US$ 1 million in all assets except their primary residence), and the Annual World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch compiled by Capgemini, we can see that the World's High Net Worth (HNW) population grew to 9.5 million with their assets raised to US$37.2 trillion. Also, Merrill Lynch reports that there are 9.5 million (HNWI) millionaires worldwide, and 95 000 multimillionaires (UHNWI with over US$30 million). In 2007, Forbes Magazine reported that there were 946 billionaires in the world with total accumulated wealth of US$3.5 trillion.

By definition, a millionaire is an individual who owns one million units of any currency. In terms of private banking, a millionaire is a person who owns one million US dollars. However, individuals who have 800 000 euro are not counted as millionaires in their country; nobody, including a beneficiary bank, recognises these individuals as millionaires, but if we exchange this amount for the US dollars, they become millionaires.

There is no definition or internationally recognised model for the US dollar being currency for identifying the world's or individuals' wealth. Yes, the US dollar has been the "de facto" world currency since the 20th century, and as of 2007 the dollar still has the largest share, at 63.3 per cent, of foreign reserve holdings; the euro has about 26.5 per cent.

However, since the year 2000, the dollar share is falling and the euro share is rising. As of December 2006, the euro surpassed the dollar in the combined value of cash in circulation. The value of euro notes in circulation has risen to more than 610 billion euro, equivalent to $800 billion; therefore, the euro became the currency with the highest combined value of cash in circulation in the world.

A million US dollars exchanged into other currencies do not always make millionaires.

Consequently, what should be a definition for a millionaire?

Perhaps: A millionaire is an individual whose net worth of wealth exceeds a sufficient amount of units of any currency when exchanged worth one million units of the world's highest valued currency unit, or the world's highest anchor currency unit. It can also be a person who owns enough units of any currency when exchanged worth one million units of the world's highest valued currency unit, or the world's highest anchor currency unit in cash, bank accounts and savings.

If one person has enough currencies to buy one million of the world's highest valued currency unit, or the world's highest anchor currency unit, than that person should be counted as a millionaire. This way we will only have around hundred billionaires and much less millionaires, and that will make some sense and bring back original meaning of being a millionaire and a billionaire.
 
Ivan Simic
Belgrade, Serbia