Quote Originally Posted by ramAnag View Post
Have I upset you Rog...or are you just still without a coffee machine?
‘Indignant’, ‘Moral high horse’...’self parody’...don’t really get any of that. I’ve asked a question, that’s all and it’s not a matter of stealing from the ‘poor and needy’.
The issue surely is...can it be acceptable for individuals to have so much disposable wealth when others have virtually nothing and when, for instance, our own public services - in one of the World’s wealthier nations - are in crisis.
The question applies almost as much to the wages of footballers as it does to this painting but I’m not trying to start the revolution...just asking...is this morally acceptable or is it as simple as, everything has its price and that’s how it is?
I think its just the way of it RA, there always has been, and always will be a massive disparity between the haves and have nots. historically just look round at the stately homes that were built a few centuries ago, look at the Terra Cotta Army in china, look at the Pyramids of Ghiza etc etc., built for the filthy rich by slaves, and these days I challenge you to find a leader of any nation who is not filthy rich, so there is no cultural or economic model which prevents it, other than Mutually assured Destruction.

Your point about crumbling social services is heart-felt and I'm 100% with you on helping those unable to help themselves but I'll always come back at you by saying there is equal or greater benefit in controlling/reducing the denominator (the demand for services) than there is in increasing the numerator (the supply of money). Interestingly (to me anyway) there was a report on R4 on monday which bore out my rant from a few months ago that said, whilst UK's GDP (added up wealth of the whole country) would go down by a few points due to Brexit, the GDP Per Capita (average individual wealth) would go down less, because the calc factored in that there would be a significant emigration of residents back to their countries of origin, and that (on average) these people contributed less than the rest of the population by being in low-productivity jobs, and/or depending on state aid.