讓全球7大億萬富翁頭疼的問題
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收入失衡是個復雜的問題。美國是世界上最富裕的國家，但也是收入差距最大的國家。不過，好在美國的經濟階層有流動性，許多美國人的收入水平都會變化。安聯保險指出，70%的美國人曾在至少一年時間里躋身于美國收入最高的那五分之一階層中，收入擠進前十分之一至少一年的更達到人口的53%。 然而，隨著貧富差距變得更為明顯，全國都在熱議如何減少收入不平衡、如何扶持中產階層。由于廣受關注，這個問題甚至把一些意想不到的人聯系在了一起——民主黨和共和黨人士都很重視收入失衡現象，只是解決方案存在差異；哈佛商學院校友把收入差距作為重點關注對象，這有點像工會活躍分子，以及那些在快餐店外抗議示威的領取最低工資的雇員一樣。 事實上，億萬富翁也不例外。企業家兼投資者尼克?哈諾爾曾因為一樁交易名聲大噪，2007年，他成功地把自己的互聯網廣告公司以60億美元的高價賣給了微軟。不過，他最出名的還是曾向最富有的1%同伴發出警告：“如果我們不采取行動來緩和美國經濟中已昭然若揭的收入不均現象，人們遲早會揭竿而起。如果收入差距仍然持續擴大，哪個社會都抗不了多久?！痹S多富豪跟哈諾爾看法一致。其中一些是從道德層面出發，另一些則表示更關注經濟受到的沖擊。 下面是七位億萬富翁表態，他們都很擔心收入失衡會影響經濟發展。 |
The U.S. is the richest and yet most unequal country in the world when you consider wealth. And yet, there is economic mobility; many Americans shift income brackets, with 70% of the population experiencing at least one year in the top 20th percentile of income and 53% landing in the top 10th percentile in at least one year, according to Allianz. But as the disparities in wealth and income have become more marked, the national conversation over income inequality, as well as how to shore up America’s middle class, has gained urgency. It has even become a cause célèbre with surprising bedfellows. Democrats and Republicans have both focused on the topic, albeit with different solutions in mind. Harvard Business School alumni have cited it as a major concern — just like union activists and minimum wage workers at the fast food protests. And billionaires are no exception. Entrepreneur and investor Nick Hanauer, who sold his Internet advertising company to Microsoft for $6 billion in 2007, most famously warned fellow one-percenters, “If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality.” But he has plenty of company. Some are concerned on moral grounds; others cite the impact on the economy. Here are seven other billionaires who say they are worried about how income inequality will affect America. |
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Lloyd Blankfein 勞埃德?布蘭克費恩 估算凈資產：11億美元 職位：高盛董事長兼首席執行官 言論：布蘭克費恩在接受哥倫比亞廣播公司采訪時說：“在過去幾十年里，太多的GDP增長成果被極少數人享受了。收入不平等是造成美國階層分化的原因，而且差距可能變大。如果無權參與法律制定，就無法解決現實問題。如果無法解決現實問題，就無法推動經濟增長，也不能推動美國走向成功。這個問題非常嚴重，必須解決?！?/p> |
Lloyd Blankfein Estimated net worth: $1.1 billion Occupation: Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO What he said: “”Too much of the GDP over the last generation has gone to too few of the people,” he told CBS. “[Income inequality is] responsible for the divisions in the country. The divisions could get wider. If you can’t legislate, you can’t deal with problems. [If] you can’t deal with problems, you can’t drive growth and you can’t drive the success of the country. It’s a very big issue and something that has to be dealt with.” |
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Warren Buffett 沃倫?巴菲特 估算凈資產：641億美元 職位：伯克希爾-哈撒韋董事長兼首席執行官 言論：巴菲特對路透社表示：“隨著經濟變得分工更細……一個自然結果就是許多財富都流入了社會上層。當然，在市場經濟中出現收入不平衡的現象是正常的，哪怕是非常不平衡。但在人均GDP超過5萬美元的經濟體中，真的不應該出現許多努力工作卻依然貧困的現象。我的意思是，這很不合理，應該制定政策來改善現狀?！?/p> |
Warren Buffett Estimated net worth: $64.1 billion Occupation:Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO What he said: “As the economy gets more specialized … as a natural consequence, a lot of the wealth flows to the top. And, of course, you expect unequal results in a market economy, very unequal,” Buffett told Reuters. “But you really shouldn’t have an economy with over $50,000 in GDP per person and have lots of people living in poverty who are willing to work. I mean, that makes no sense and we need governmental policies to correct that.” |
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Bill Gates 比爾?蓋茨 估算凈資產：847億美元 職位：微軟聯合創始人、前董事長兼首席執行官、蓋茨基金會聯合董事長 言論：蓋茨在他的博客中寫道：“收入分配高度不均是個問題。它擾亂了經濟發展動力，導致民主傾向于為掌權者利益服務，削弱了人人生而平等的理念。資本主義制度是無法通過自行糾正實現更平等社會的，也就是說，如果不加控制，財富過度集中會產生滾雪球效應?！?/p> |
Bill Gates Estimated net worth:: $84.7 billion Occupation: Microsoft Co-founder, former Chairman and CEO, now Gates Foundation Co-Chair What he said: “High levels of inequality are a problem—messing up economic incentives, tilting democracies in favor of powerful interests, and undercutting the ideal that all people are created equal,” Gates wrote on his blog. “Capitalism does not self-correct toward greater equality—that is, excess wealth concentration can have a snowball effect if left unchecked.” |
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Jeff Greene 杰夫?格林 估算凈資產：33億美元 職位：房地產公司Florida Sunshine Investments創始人 言論：CNBC引述格林的話說：“全球性收入失衡和科技的迅猛發展造成了越來越多人失業，而且情況還在惡化。如果把國家負債再提高1萬億美元，重建地下管網、學校和醫院，就能讓人們看到希望。這些措施可以幫助美國重拾競爭力?！?/p> |
Jeff Greene Estimated net worth:: $3.3 billion Occupation: Florida Sunshine Investments Founder What he said: “The global equalization of wages and the exponential growth in technology has created a job-killing machine that’s only going to get worse,” CNBC quoted Greene as saying. “If we added an extra trillion to national debt, we could rebuild these underground pipes and schools and hospitals and give hope to people,” he said. “That would get the country through this difficult period. And it would help make the U.S. more competitive again.” |
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Carl Icahn 卡爾?伊坎 估算凈資產：207億美元 職位：Icahn Enterprises董事長 言論：雅虎財經報道，伊坎在一份政策報告中寫道：“美國的工人也‘被騙’了。美國的廠房和設備已陳舊不堪，各大公司的董事和首席執行官卻放任老化設備繼續工作，工人的每小時生產率也因此降至歷史最低水平，當然也低于去年。廠房和設備的平均使用時間達到了驚人的22.3年，這是1941年以來的最高紀錄。但我覺得大多數董事和CEO并不關心。除了一些例外情況，CEO通常只看短期業績。也許不能怪他們，因為很不幸華爾街的考核體系就是季度環比增長，CEO的高額薪酬就取決于這些短期業績……到最后曲終人散，CEO早已拿著獎金逍遙離去，留下面對殘局的仍然只是‘囊中如洗’的工人?！?/p> |
Carl Icahn Estimated net worth:: $20.7 billion Occupation: Icahn Enterprises Chairman What he said: “[T]he American worker is also getting ‘screwed,’” Icahn wrote in a policy paper quoted by Yahoo Finance. “[B]oards and CEOS have allowed property, plants and equipment of our companies to become the oldest on record and, as a result, the growth rate in productivity per hour of our workers has also become the worst on record and has actually decreased compared to last year. The average age of corporate property, plants and equipment is an astounding 22.3 years, the oldest it has reached since 1941. But I do not believe that most boards and CEOs really give a damn. With many exceptions, CEOs only care about short term results. Perhaps you can’t really blame them because unfortunately, Wall Street judges them based on quarter to quarter results and CEOs receive their egregious compensation based on those short-term results. … When it comes time to pay the Piper, CEOs will have taken their bonuses and again the workers will be left, holding the proverbially ’empty bag.'” |
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Paul Tudor Jones II 保羅?都鐸?瓊斯二世 估算凈資產：47億美元 職位：資產管理公司Tudor Investment Corporation創始人、聯合董事長兼首席投資官 言論：瓊斯在TED大會上說：“這張圖顯示了過去40年美國公司的利潤占收入的百分比。從中可以看出，目前的數字為12.5%，是40年來的最高水平。如果你是股東，那就恭喜了；但如果你不是股東只是普通工人，你會發現這不是什么好事。當今利潤率的提升并沒有增加社會財富，實際上擴大了收入差距，這不是件好事。但直覺上似乎符合邏輯，對吧？算一下就清楚了，如果10%的美國家庭擁有90%的公司股票，公司利潤的大部分就會流入他們的口袋，社會上其他人能獲得的財富自然就會變少?！?/p> |
Paul Tudor Jones II Estimated net worth: $4.7 billion Occupation: Tudor Investment Corporation Founder, Co-Chairman, and Chief Investment Officer What he said: “This chart is corporate profit margins going back 40 years as a percentage of revenues, and you can see that we’re at a 40-year high of 12.5 percent. Now, hooray if you’re a shareholder, but if you’re the other side of that, and you’re the average American worker, then you can see it’s not such a good thing,” Jones said in a TED talk. “Now, higher profit margins do not increase societal wealth. What they actually do is they exacerbate income inequality, and that’s not a good thing. But intuitively, that makes sense, right? Because if the top 10 percent of American families own 90 percent of the stocks, as they take a greater share of corporate profits, then there’s less wealth left for the rest of society.” |
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Charles Koch 查爾斯?科赫 估算凈資產：441億美元 職位：科氏工業董事長兼首席執行官 言論：科赫在今年夏天的一次發言中說：“美國正在分化為雙層社會——弱勢群體致富機會破滅，富人們財富卻在加速積累。政策已誤入歧途，催生了一個無法脫貧的底層群體，結果是美國經濟遭到嚴重削弱，企業界也日漸腐化墮落?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W） 譯者：Charlie 校對：夏林 |
Charles Koch Estimated net worth: $44.1 billion Occupation: Koch Industries Chairman and CEO What he said: “We’re headed toward a two-tiered society — a society that’s destroying opportunities for the disadvantaged and creating welfare for the rich,” Koch said in a talk during the summer. “Misguided policies are creating a permanent underclass, crippling our economy and corrupting the business community.” |
