Fact of the Day

Even ancient Rome was more egalitarian than the world today. Marcus Crassus, whose wealth was calculated as being roughly equal to that of the empire's entire government treasury, had an annual return on it equal to the average yearly income of 32,000 Romans. But that, to use Boris Johnson's description of a £250,000 paycheck, is chicken feed. If one measure of wealth, and there are many, is how many of your compatriots you can buy, then give a big hand for magnate Carlos Slim, the interest or return on whose stash is the equivalent of the average annual wage of 400,000 Mexicans.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/08/plutocrats-rise-new-global-super-rich-review