General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Free traders, and I mean all of them, worldwide, do you understand what's wrong here? [View all]ComplimentarySwine
(515 posts)have a look at this link:
[link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_historical_figures#North_American_figures_and_their_wealth|
John D. Rockefeller - net worth of 1.53% of the GDP of the United States at the time.
Cornelius Vanderbilt - net worth of 1.15% of the GDP of the United States at the time.
John Jacob Astor - 0.93% of the GDP of the United States at the time.
Andrew Carnegie - 0.60% of the GDP of the United States at the time.
I don't know of any one man worth that much today, so I'm not sure that your CEO comparison is telling the whole story. From what I've seen, 1% of today's GDP is over $150 billion. Adjusted for inflation, these people's worth was measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Forbes lists Bill Gates as the richest man and he "only" has around $66 billion according to what I've read. Mitt Romney is rather poor by comparison with his $250 million dollars. Bill Gates could spend Mitt's entire net worth every month for the next 22 years before ever running out of money, and he isn't nearly as rich as these business men from out past.
Concerning your implication that other countries are stupid because they have trouble growing their economies when other countries refuse to buy goods from them seems about like calling someone stupid because they can't earn money if no one will hire them. I believe that a large reason why the US has been as prosperous as it has been is because of the amount of merchandise that we have historically exported to other markets (In fact, I believe that we're CURRENTLY the 3rd largest exporter in the world). Now that other markets are exporting to us, some seem to want to take the ball and go home.
Please give me a cogent reason why you are against equality regardless of nationality.