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Why Rich People Don't Deserve Their Wealth. (That's Right, I Said It.)
This quote is from the short article, The Self-Attribution Fallacy, by George Monbiot. It's an extremely powerful argument for fairness. And if that doesn't excite you, I really dig it. And if that doesn't excite you, the guy's British, so you can read the whole thing using a little British accent in your head. Really, you should read it. And then you should click on that share button so all your friends can read it, too.
04.24.12
From Monbiot's original article: "I am now going to bombard you with figures. I’m sorry about that, but these numbers need to be tattooed on our minds.
Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%.
Between 1979 and 2009, productivity rose by 80% , while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%.
In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%.
[This] is to suggest that the economy has been rewarding the wrong skills. [CEOs] are no more deserving of the share of wealth they’ve captured than oil sheikhs."
Want more? Read the rest here.