World's Richest Woman's New Idea: Wages of $2 a Day

Gina Rinehart, that charming Australian billionaire who last week advised the world's "jealous" poor to stop whining and drinking so much, is back with more priceless advice. The world's richest woman, who amassed her family fortune via iron-ore mining, thinks Australia's struggling mining industry should look to Africa for inspiration. There, miners "are willing to work for less than $2 per day."

In a video recorded for the Sydney Mining Club, she explains that "Africans want to work. Such statistics make me worry for this country's future. Indeed, if we competed at the Olympic Games as sluggishly as we compete economically, there would be an outcry." PM Julia Gillard responded today, saying, "It's not the Australian way to toss people ... a $2 gold coin and then ask them to work for a day." Amusingly, the BBC notes that Rinehart is believed to make about $611 a second. (More Gina Rinehart stories.)