yes PG, but .. Inequality is a pretty good proxy for all the 'evils' we really want to address - If we could turn one knob to fix things, we would turn down th

yes PG, but .. Inequality is a pretty good proxy for all the 'evils' we really want to address - If we could turn one knob to fix things, we would turn down the big one marked "Inequality". I think the high emotion around the issue, that most of us feel, arises from a kind of pre-cognition that something is totally broken in our system of commerce and democracy... There are titanic demographic shifts even in the last few years [ for example, look at the graph on this page, showing a 10% shift in wealth from the 99% to the 1% in the last 5 years, if I read it correctly : http://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/sixtytwo-people-have-the-same-amount-of-wealth-as-half-the-world-says-oxfam-20160116-gm7h6y.html http://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/sixtytwo-peopl... ] This is a bit like a 3 degree change in global climate - we feel it viscerally without understanding whats going on, we get the sense old rules/intuitions don't apply anymore. Weather is more extreme, something is different in the economy. This may be a natural result of technology plus the magnifying effect of the internet to spread value out and gather X% of that Y value inwards to creators... which is fine and good, we all benefit from technology. Inequality may be even more extreme in future, and yet all boats may be lifted as that happens - so we all enjoy a better standard of living. But we are not seeing that now, there is a torrent up, but no trickle down. Right now, our rules for democracy have not caught up to this new norm, nor has our tax regime - and the current system is being gamed. I think there is justified rational anger, because most people feel somehow they have been stolen from and lied to, particularly post GFC/2008. While we are violently agreeing/disagreeing on whether != is intrinsically evil, lets drill down and discuss the real issues lying under the banner of inequality - poverty, tax, education/student debt, superPACs / campaign funding, influence of lobbyists, police abusing power when black lives matter, incarceration rates for petty crimes, carbon pricing / green energy incentives, minimum wage/basic income ... its a long damn list, and most politicians don't seem to be too serious about talking about this stuff - now is the time to demand that discussion of them. We need to drill down, explore the engineering of our capitalist democracy, then fix it.