I read an article a few weeks back that seemed like such a great idea for one of those tear jerking, inspirational movies. The article was about how Liberian amputees, soldiers or civilians that were wounded in the many civil wars in Liberia, started a soccer league as a way to foster reconciliation, a way to reclaim some dignity for the amputees, and a way for the general population to change their perceptions of the amputees. Many amputees previously viewed as butchers are now viewed as heroes. Pretty amazing story. The video of these guys playing soccer is pretty amazing as well.
So there's rich, and then there's super rich. I recently read an article in the WSJ about the top 400 taxpayers based on income. Pretty incredible statistics. Those top 400, or what they call the "Fortunate 400", pulled in $85.6 billion in income in 2005. That's over $200 million each ... in one year! Here's a quick graphic to drive that home: Very impressive. There's all the obvious jaw-dropping statistics to go with that. For instance, to make the cut to be in the 400 you had to pull in at least $100 million. With an average of $200 million, that means there's people pulling in well over that number. Obviously, quite crazy numbers, and generally speaking not necessarily anything to be concerned about. I'm all for capitalism. But one of the more disheartening statistics was that adjusting for inflation, the minimum income to make the cutoff into the Fortunate 400 has nearly tripled since 1992. That's probably not a good sign as I imagine that...
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