How much is enough?

In a wonderful movie called "Fierce Creatures" Michael Palin, late of Monty Python, asks the billionaire who just acquired the London zoo where Palin works, what is his ultimate goal? How much money will be enough? The venture capitalist doesn't get the question. For him there will never be enough. As John D. Rockefeller said, the money becomes just a way of keeping score.


Today, the wealthy of America are growing ever wealthier as the middle class is under siege, struggling to hold its own.

The Wealth Distribution

In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.7%. Table 1 and Figure 1 present further details drawn from the careful work of economist Edward N. Wolff at New York University (2010).
More:http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Let me confess to readers that I consider myself a lucky man: I am happy in my work and happy in my home and family. Never rich, never famous, but blessed with love, rewarding work, and wonderful memories. Why isn't that enough for anyone? Why shouldn't our goal be to enable as many of our fellow men and women to enjoy the same satisfying lives? What makes some people so greedy and competitive? I confess, too, that I just don't get it.