Buffett: Prosperity Has Been ‘Disproportionately Rewarding’ to Top Earners

‘This has been a prosperity that’s been disproportionately rewarding to the people on top’

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JUDY WOODRUFF: You also see, though, some experts saying that not enough — there aren’t enough workers out there who know — who have the skills to do all the jobs that are needed.

WARREN BUFFETT: Well, there’s always a mismatch.

I mean, you know, as the economy evolves, it reallocates resources. Now, the real problem, in my view, is — this has been — the prosperity has been unbelievable for the extremely rich people.

If you go to 1982, when Forbes put on their first 400 list, those people had $93 billion. They now they have $2.4 trillion, 25 for one. That is — this has been a prosperity that’s been disproportionately rewarding to the people on top.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Are we stuck forever with some measure inequality?

WARREN BUFFETT: No, we generally have translated greater output in the few hours of work per week over the last century. And that’s a good trend of the future.

But we do have to have a system that, as output of goods and services keeps increasing per capita, that it takes care of the people who are willing to work and really are not getting by very well with a family on a 40-hour week.

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