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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Did the World's Rich Get That Way? Luck
(Bloomberg Businessweek) Why are some people so rich and others so poor? Is it from good choices or good luck? Hard work, smarts, and abilityor something else? That depends who you are comparing yourself to. If you are more successful than your friends, colleagues, and family members, surely a lot of it is because you are better at what you do, or have made better choices, or have worked harder to get where you are. Think former President Bill Clinton, compared to his somewhat less successful brother.
But as the scale of comparison widens, the amount thats due to the choices you madecompared to the uterus you gestated indrops dramatically. That suggests we are a long way from equality of opportunity and that the rich are rewarded for the same effort far more than are the poor. Its time to fix that.
The United States is an unequal society. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 20 percent get about half the nations income, compared to the 5 percent of all income shared among the bottom fifth of households. The top 10 percent of the population controls about 70 percent of the wealth. Among rich countries, Americas inequality is certainly extreme. But the world as a whole is an incredibly unequal place. Norwayheld up as a model of equalitystill sees the bottom fifth of households with incomes less than a third (PDF) those of the top fifth.
Why is there such inequality? The choices we make as individuals can put us considerably above or below our peer average in terms of income or happiness or status. But our peer average itself is set by forces beyond our controlfactors such as to whom we were born. And our peer average explains our relative standing against national averages far more than our own choices. ......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-22/how-did-the-worlds-rich-get-that-way-luck#r=rss
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How Did the World's Rich Get That Way? Luck (Original Post)
marmar
Apr 2013
OP
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)1. Born on third base.
... as regards Shit-for-Brains.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)3. Thinks he hit a triple
Or as Thom Hartmann calls them, "the lucky sperm club"
xchrom
(108,903 posts)2. du rec. nt
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)4. Yup. The Lucky Sperm club or some other form...
a fact which they are incapable of accepting. They built that! All by themselves! 'Cause they're special.