“… Inequality in America is greater than it has been in almost a century. Those fortunate enough to belong to the 1 percent, made up of the super-rich, stand on one side of the divide; the remaining 99 percent on the other.”
But notice who, exactly, is being complained about and who is exempted from this complaint.
Even though Forbes, in their Celebrity 100 list for 2010 lists Oprah Winfrey’s income at 315 million, nobody is complaining that her wealth is part of “inequity”. Forbes ranked Beyonce Knowles at #2 in this list, with an income of $87 million.
The band U2 came in at #7 with 130 million. Jay-Z is number #15 at $63 million.
Is there something wrong that such talented people can earn so much worldwide income? No, actually, the leftist complaint is inverted. Instead of being a problem in our society, it is something to be celebrated.
The real problem is how few of those who complain about “income inequality” take full advantage of all the free ways to vastly improve their own ability to be similarly successful.
One case in point: while she is not American, J.K. Rowling wrote the first of her Harry Potter books while tending to her child and camping out in coffee houses of Edinburgh. Don’t like to write? The entire undergraduate coursework of a number of major universities is available online for free, if someone would only spend the time.
It appears that time is the one thing that #OWS have in abundance, along with writers for swanky leftist European magazines.
There can’t be an examination of this subject without considering what the real percentages are.
Is it really 99% to 1%?
Anybody have the numbers on that?
that is ecomonics...period...
a big mistake is thinking that because some extremely lucky few...like Oprah....who btw has no significant talent except she was a black woman at the right time....that just anybody can do it...