Dear Sir/Madam,

What disturbs me most about the news of Mr Grasso's (the head of the New York Stock Exchange) $140 m payout or Cameron Diaz's (an actress) $30 m annual income is how little it disturbs people in general and is simply accepted as the way things are (Big Board Chief Will Get a $140 Million Package, August 28, 2003; Diaz knocks Roberts off top earner spot, 28 August 2003).

What does an average American doing an essential job, a member of the armed forces, for example, putting their life in harm's way for all our sakes, earn?

Whatever it is, it must be several hundred times less than what America's top earners are racking in.

The first modern Americans left Europe to escape gross injustice and inequality. And what do their descendents do? They create their own system of gross injustice and inequality! Based on so-called "market forces", rather than the sword. But the gulf in power and status between an American top earner and a GI can hardly be less than between a top 18th Century British aristocrat and a foot soldier in the British army.

Why? Because man is our planet's "greatest ape" (Homo sapiens indeed!), whose animal nature still dominates society and forms the basis of our economy.