"he did make a million times more risky bet than the typical minimum wage worker" No, definitely not. The rhetoric here is missing the nature of power: power

"he did make a million times more risky bet than the typical minimum wage worker" No, definitely not. The rhetoric here is missing the nature of power: power gives leverage and enables entities to extract money and surpluses. Knowledge and talent is just one means to power. A more common means is patronage. The highest earning individuals are generally more talented and intelligent, but not that much more so. Major corps have access to information, systems, lobbying that individuals do not have, any 'salary negotiation' is like playing poker against the house: the tables are tilted. I think European taxation is excessive after income, payroll and VAT it's well beyond 50% for many income earners (though they get healthcare from that), there's no reason that those earning $1M a year can't pay the tax rates on the books, and opt to hide their money offshore. Especially in US/Canada where taxes aren't crazy, there's really no excuse for these folks. It's just criminal.