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"The question is often asked, what intrinsic reason is there to worry about income inequality?" A stable society - when income inequality goes to far, it leads
by inthewoods 11y ago
"The question is often asked, what intrinsic reason is there to worry about income inequality?"
A stable society - when income inequality goes to far, it leads to first a destabilized society and then, occasionally, a revolution. As someone once said to me in answer to the question of why we pay taxes (a similar but different question) the answer was "To keep the pitchforks off your lawn."
- icebraining 11y agoBut does it? In the past, inequality was usually tied to pretty bad living conditions for much of the rest of society. I wonder if most people were able to have a "reasonable" standard of living (say, of the average working class person in the West in the 90s) and be reasonable secure that life would not get worse for them or for their kids, if society would actually become destabilized by huge levels of inequality.
- inthewoods 11y agoThat's a pretty reasonable "amount" of income inequality - the question is how it can be achieved. Income inequality has a tendency to increase because the people at the top of the system rig it to their advantage, which tends to further increase their advantages.