World opinion on rich and poor

Excerpt from the Financial Times:

Public opinion across Europe, Asia and the US is strikingly consistent in considering that the gap between rich and poor is too wide and that the wealthy should pay more taxes.

During the recent campaign, Obama got "caught" saying this now famous sound-bite: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." This ignited a storm of discussion among media outlets that were controlled by wealthy businessmen, perhaps afraid that the more numerous poor would agree with Obama.

It would seem that despite the best efforts of some media moguls, more people around the world believe that maybe economic resources would be better utilized to produce food and medical research for everyone, rather than for building artificial islands or mega yachts for a few.