Wednesday, May 2, 2012

They're super rich and we're not

Check out the graph to the right that shows, rather starkly, how American productivity has increased over the past 40 years, but hourly compensation has not.


It's obvious that class warfare is over. The rich won long ago.


And, like Mitt Romney, they hid their money from the country that created the conditions for accumulation of wealth that can't possibly be used in one's lifetime.


Check out this graph below of where Mitt has sheltered his wealth, estimated at $250 million.








The growing economic inequality is seen as a good thing by a former colleague of Mitt's at Bain Capital. Check out this long-form story for some insight.


Edward Conard retired at the age of 51 after accumulating hundreds of millions in wealth, like Mitt, in the buying and selling of companies.



Conard's mother was a kindergarten teacher. His father was a Ford engineer. 

He believes he took the harder path in life, by not becoming a lawyer. Maybe one day he'll realize that he had a less positive impact on society than his parents.



Conard feels, like many in his class, that he is more valuable than almost everyone else in our country. 


He has a book coming out titled: “Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong.”

As he told the Times' reporter: "Economics is counterintuitive. It just is.”

Well, to the unaware, it's counterintuitive. To those of us who know the price of a gallon of gas or of milk, it is quite intuitive. 

We lose, and they win.

There is nothing more economic than that. In order for someone to be rich beyond all reason, millions have to be poor, beyond all dignity.

1 comment:

  1. Rich people work harder. They don't sit around writing blogs and complaining.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2012/04/27/do-the-wealthy-work-harder-than-the-rest/?mod=WSJBlog

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