The Lucky Sperm Club

Straight from the mouth of a Job Creator comes Gina Rinehart's diatribe bemoaning the difficulties her business has to face. David Lazarus in the LA Times has this piece where Rinehart, who struggled from the depths of poverty to hit the capitalist jackpot (the same way I was born the King of England only to be dethroned), railed against the high minimum wage laws. 

She could have made her case if she talked about the economics of it all. All said and done, she's lamenting an increased lack of competitiveness. It's obvious the pie isn't big enough and she wants a bigger slice. But one of the problems is in the jargon used. To quote, she feels that 

"There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire. If you're jealous of those with more money don't just sit there and complain, do something to make more money yourself. Spend less time drinking, smoking and socializing and more time working."

Yup. This coming from a mining tycoon.

The usual rebuttal from Australian parliament members, while swift, may not have been harsh enough. Gillard obviously reiterated support for a "decent" minimum wage and how it wasn't the "Australian Way" to toss people $2. Perhaps she should have come out more strongly against the tone Rinehart used. For heavens sake, "Butt out the fag, put down your beer and start bloody working!" isn't exactly a polite way of saying something!

Contrast this with Buffett who found himself in a political uproar the right caused over the "Buffett Rule" where he wondered how it could be 'fair' for his secretary to be paying a higher tax rate than him. Someone who could have never done what he did in any other country, perhaps at any other time yet who's still aware that 

"the market economy creates some lopsided payoffs to participants … who may lack the right endowment of vocal chords, anatomical structure, physical strength, mental powers or inherited wealth to hit the capitalist jackpot themselves''

And yeah, according to him, Rinehart would be a star member of the "lucky sperm club" -  someone who chose her ancestors wisely.

The bottom line is that this is disgusting. There's nothing wrong in wanting to collectively lift people higher but the way to do it is by offering a hand, not a swift kick.