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Gordon Gekko, the infamously cutthroat capitalist and lead character in Oliver Stone's Wall Street, captured the heady years of the 1980s with a single, indelible line: Greed is good. Today, it is Edward Conard, a friend and former colleague of Mitt Romney's at the private equity firm Bain Capital, who has offered a new mantra for the 1%, a cri de coeur for the Gekkos of the twenty-first century: Inequality is good.
- ... the top 1% commanded 21% of all income ...
Repeat until it sinks in: The 1% do not earn income. Wage slaves earn income. Exclusive servants, highly rewarded servants, but servants nevertheless. We do not know precisely who the 1% wealthiest people on this planet are, as Forbes only publishes the list of people holding funny paper of the 1%.