#power
The 1% own 95% of the wealth: As a result they also own 95% of politicians: As a result, they also own 99% of the power.
The main consequence is that laws are promulgated to favor the 1% and harm the 99%.
Food for thought
@Helveticus
The 1% are such an imbalanced concentration of wealth and power that if we ate the rich, we'd starve - but if they were the first against the wall in the revolution, we'd reclaim enough wealth for *everyone* to eat quite well for quite a long time...
@thereal_renaissance_man They tried that in the so-called French Revolution; did not work well and 20 years later the artistocrats were back in power!
Capitalism is unfair but communism is worse, much worse!
We cannot change Man's nature, he is greedy and selfish, an aspect that helps create wealth though also affecting the less skilled!
Alas, there is no easy solution!
@Helveticus
I wasn't advocating communism or socialism.
I was making a tongue in cheek point about the obscene wealth concentration.
The problem is unbridled capitalism for sure, but the answer is not eliminating capitalism, it's regulated capitalism that puts some boundaries and safety nets around the edges, protects worker's rights, taxes the high end gains at reasonable rates, and limits the amount of direct political control that corporations and wealthy elites can accumulate.