How Much "Meritocracy" Is Too Much?

The topic of income and wealth inequality is somewhat in vogue these days. Apparently, as income inequality rises, so does a lot of other stuff; crime, depression, infant mortality rates, and so on.

The voices of those clamoring that “something must be done” about this are inevitably drowned out by those determined to maintain the status quo. After all, every voice you read or hear comes to you via a medium owned by a billionaire. You don’t seriously believe these folks are gonna beshit their own nest, do you?

That’s why, stats be damned, every good sensible American knows in their heart that the rich deserve their riches. They’re smarter than the poor, and they work harder, or their parents or grandparents did, or something. After all, if you worked as hard as, say, Steve Schwartzman, you too could be a billionaire!

I mention Steve only because of a headline making the rounds about his so-so year. Sure, that’s a lot of money, but it’s by no means a record in the world ‘o hedgies, who as a group, are obviously the smartest and hardest-working motherf–kers on the planet!

Just to put Steve’s boodle in perspective, I speculated how long it would take me to make $785 million at Ontario’s plump new business-killing minimum wage of $14 per hour.

It would take me 28,000 years.