You forgot a piece of my quote:
I can understand if numbers aren't quite you're thing, but thats no excuse to take stuff out of context to make it easier for you to form a counter argument, thats kinda lazy man...
Stating facts about the wealth inequality is always been taken as an insult... that was not the purpose of my post..
Believe me, if I wanted to insult somebody, I would be very open about it.
Sir your logical and very true answer is simply not the PC or popular answer of today. Most will not agree with it. And don't be too sad about your lady friend, odds are if this very theoretical question caused a blowout bigger problems were due down the line.
Well I think we recently had a thread that had some people being very proud about the fact that the US has something like 400+ billionaires while Europe didn't even had 100, I don't think its quite a good measurment for the economy if you count the billionaires, quiete the opposite infact.
Anything to avoid admitting that your claim was just a silly exaggeration, eh?
Anyway, if you're looking at it by median income and median expendable income, the typical American has quite a lot more money than the typical European. Income inequality may be a problem (I'm inclined to think that it is), but it's not such a problem that our middle class isn't quite well off.
Work Smarter, not Harder.
Any chump can work hard, grafting his ass off all day every day, but can everyone lead a team, create an innovative concept and build a brand? There is your answer.
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The United Kingdom alone has over 100 Billionaires.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27360032
According to this chart, http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/12...es-in-an-hour/ I have to work 3 months and 4 weeks to make what my CEO makes in 1 HOUR, assuming no vacation. I think if anyone had the amount or stress, work, irate, irrational, belligerent, mean, degrading, condescending and just plain assholeishness that I put up with in 3 months/4 weeks times all complied into 1 hour? they would die, simple LOL.
Its things like that that make people think twice about life and happiness, I mean... in my CEO's shoes I would be debt free and actually saving for a retirement by the end of 1 day. I've tried many many times to move up, but positions ALWAYS go to those that are 'in' and by 'who u know' never based on 'what you've done'. At this rate I've lost my whole retirement that I had saved up for in the last 18 years, and about to start over again when I sell my house that i'm upside down on... it's going to be sold for 30% less than I owe on it... I STILL might have to work 2 jobs while TRYING to go to school hopefully by the end of next year (school=more debt yay) at the ripe young age of 39 !!!! But at least I should have more opportunity for jobs, and hopefully I can find a decent paying job by age 45. Starting to save for my retirement that late well... I guess I'll be working until I"m 90!! Stay in school kiddos!
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Only if you are salary, otherwise the other guy will be making twice as much as you.
Then become skilled enough to be worthy of a salary? It's not that easy, I know, but there is a time and place for working hard, and smart, and applying both with the right balance is what makes people successful.
Is working 40 hours a week at your local supermarket worth it, or is working 40 hours a week to develop a new concept, design or invention worth it?
1) You should work smarter, not harder.
2) First you assume both persons are equal, then one of them is handicapped. How can you compare a regular person with a handicapped one?
3) The only thing that matters is results - if the handicapped person can get the same results WITHOUT hindering or causing any extra expenses(this means time, conditions, money), then they should be paid the same.
Afaik if you are handicapped in some form, you receive certain benefits(tax reductions, etc) from the government and no company is under obligation to pay you more than any other employee unless it is in its mandate.
I'm not very well informed on the amounts of billionaires per capita per country, so it may be an exaggeration, but I do know that a lot of CEO's earn money on stupendus levels compared to the people lower on the tier, and that this is more prevailent in the US, where the gap between rich and poor is even larger then in the EU.
And 'not such a problem' is definatly an underestimation if you look at the way the wealth is distributed amonst the population currently, second to that, the richer part of the population draws even more of the wealth towards their already huge fortunes. Instead of less.
And your middle class is actually not quite well of, if you look at the numbers, you'll notice that the middle class is getting smaller and poorer with the lower class growing larger.
The only difference between the US and the EU is that the US is an even more extreme example of the gap between rich and poor, wich is probably because of anti-social policies and the privatisation of healthcare and the prisonsystem.