What are your social responsibilites if you get paid $210,700 an HOUR?

Question

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5094042.htmlT

This article (^) ran in the Houston Chronicle yesterday. It is a real eye-opener and I recommend everyone read it .

These hedge fund managers are making $12.6 million dollars a WEEK. This brings up an array of questions in my mind:
-Where is all this money coming FROM?
-What are they doing with the money they earn?
-How is it possible for the wealth of the people to be divided in SUCH an uneven distribution? How is it possible for one individual to make "22,255 TIMES the U.S. average annual salary"?
-Why isn't more money being donated?

Due to the limited number of characters given to input my question. Please visit http://kawaii-rin-kun.livejournal.com/135363.html for my full question.

Answer 1

None. Every individual is responsible for pursuing his/her own happiness. Hedge fund managers create their wealth by taking calculated risk in the financial markets. They are compensated handsomely because of their skills and ability. They owe nothing to anyone except to create return on capital for their investors. Stop worrying about how someone else is fulfilling their human potential and focus on how you can improve yourself.

Answer 2

Well, yeah, but aren't there probably even more hedge fund managers who lose $12.6 million a week too. What's my social responsibility to them? Food stamps.

Seriously, they are being paid to gamble other people's money, and as long as all their investors are happy, he can make all the money he wants. Obviously, he's figured out how. It's by using other people's money to acquire a portfolio designed to cover the bases in a series of scenarios of risk.

By realizing that if costs go up in on sector, it will drive up costs in another, or create an opportunity somewhere else, then you could "hedge your bets." Thus the hedge fund.

Probably the reason that more money isn't being donated is because it is being used as a tool to make more money.

Answer 3

What has made our country great is that there are financial rewards for hard work and success. That has created an environment that is conducive to invention.

It is very hard to defend anyone who makes that kind of money, but if they have the cleverness to do such a thing, we should embrace that.

Of course they are responsible for paying a lot of taxes and being a good citizen. Should they be required to pay more than others? I believe so. That amount should be somewhat progressive, but not punitive.

Answer 4

Their primary responsibility is to produce goods or services that is worth $210,000 an hour. In economic terms that their marginal product compared to those marginally less qualified is equal to the pay differential. Economist have proposed that the pay is the result of a winner take all society, and careers have turned into a lottery where one person reaps the benefits that in previous times would have been shared by a group doing similar work. It happens in fields where there are celebrities and there is no objective measures of productivity, in music, sports, CEO's, and especially in the financial industry. See data on high income people at
http://visualizingeconomics.com/

Answer 5

this is an awesome question... in its entirety! i think the social responsibilities are the same whether a person makes $210,700 per hour or $2 per hour. in my little utopia, each person should ideally subscribe to the same philanthropic and humane activities and scruples. now, granted, one may have a little more pull than the other when i comes to moving mountains (the eqipment to do that is very expensive) but they should both do their best.

Answer 6

Yep that sucks.

Unfortunately, there are no rules or regulations regarding "social responsibility." Maybe we should get jobs like those and then we can decide what to do with all the money.

Answer 7

none. getting myself a fararri, mansion, yacht and the likes. im not responsible for society unless i want to.