by Ken Vincent, Featured Contributor
OKAY, SOMEONE needs to say it and I’ll do it, though I may have pickets on my front lawn next week.
Yes there is a large pay and wealth spread in not just the US, but most of Europe and Asia too. Is it a bigger spread than 50-60 years ago? Yes, and growing larger too. But, I recall when gasoline was $.25/gallon too. So what?
The spread of pay and wealth is largely a result of two factors. Supply and demand and personal choices that we all make.
It happens to be a fact that there is a huge demand for talent and companies are willing to pay for that talent. It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about a corporate executive or a sports star. If you have exceptional talent, you can command a price for it. That doesn’t equate though to the top stars reaching their pinnacle by climbing on the backs of the downtrodden.
Secondly, we each make many choices in our lives and those choices have consequences. If you drop out of high school you have probably limited your earning capacity. Having children out of wedlock brings different consequences than having them in a stable marriage as does the timing. Investing time to take evening classes to learn a new skill brings different results than spending that time having “quality personal time”.
There are social activists and political persons that fan the flame of inequity as being unfair and pressing for all to be brought to an equal, or more equal, level. That is counter productive to individual effort and society as a whole. People are not created equal, no matter what anyone or any document says. They are simply created equal to the degree that they have a right to make decisions and pursue their ideals. With those rights though go the consequences and responsibilities.
So, let’s stop trying to drag down the achievers and take responsibility for our own lives. Let’s turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to those social agitators that create a divide in our societies.
