The New York Times has the article  Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore by Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Read the article to see how he justifies the following conclusion:

In short, the economist’s cost-benefit approach — itself long an important arrow in the moral philosopher’s quiver — has much to say about the effects of rising inequality. We need not reach agreement on all philosophical principles of fairness to recognize that it has imposed considerable harm across the income scale without generating significant offsetting benefits.

I was just thinking about Bill Gates reported $40 billion fortune. If he just sat back and got a 5% return on this fortune, he would earn $2 billion every year.  Can you imagine the problem of figuring out how to spend $2 billion on your small family?  It’s a good thing he doesn’t get it in cash.  He’d need help just cleaning it up to make room for him to fit in his house.