>To put the numbers so far in this chapter in perspective, the average adult on planet Earth earns $8,200 a year (U.S. dollars). The average American makes about $45,000. Since you see your paycheck, you know exactly where you stand.
Bit of a tangential nitpick: I don't like that he used the averages here--I think he should have used the medians. Which, for Earth, is about $850 [0] and, for U.S.A., is about $30k-50k [0,1]. Even so, a single number doesn't give you a very good picture of the actual wealth distribution, but the median is better than the average (for chrissake!) in this case.
[0]: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-median-income-worldwide.... (I tried for a couple minutes to find a better source--sorry.)
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income
Edit: And, overall, I found the excerpt to be rather fluffy, feel-goody, and sparse on content. Maybe I'm cheating here, but it seems like the kind of text that would make a fine talk, but a vacuous essay.
Bit of a tangential nitpick: I don't like that he used the averages here--I think he should have used the medians. Which, for Earth, is about $850 [0] and, for U.S.A., is about $30k-50k [0,1]. Even so, a single number doesn't give you a very good picture of the actual wealth distribution, but the median is better than the average (for chrissake!) in this case.
[0]: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-median-income-worldwide.... (I tried for a couple minutes to find a better source--sorry.)
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income
Edit: And, overall, I found the excerpt to be rather fluffy, feel-goody, and sparse on content. Maybe I'm cheating here, but it seems like the kind of text that would make a fine talk, but a vacuous essay.