>I’m unconvinced that inequality matters. It matters, but only to some extent. I agree that ideally everyone should meet some basic level of subsistence, and t

>I’m unconvinced that inequality matters. It matters, but only to some extent. I agree that ideally everyone should meet some basic level of subsistence, and that Africa-like Gini values are undesirable in the long term. Neither, however, are Nordic/Eastern European-like levels, either.[1] Some amount of inequality, it seems, is necessary to drive long-term economic dynamism. Botswana's Gini is among the highest in the world <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq...>, while Iraq and Egypt's are as low as the Netherlands. Botswana is probably a better near- and mid-term bet than Egypt (and perhaps a better long-term bet than the Netherlands), though, while Iraq might be better than both in the long term; such conclusions imply that Gini just doesn't say anything useful for economic potential, and that absolute figures measuring tangible things are the right way to judge a nation's growth. The US's Gini is high among OECD countries but closer to the middle when measured worldwide. If that's the "price" we Americans pay for having Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix (and Hollywood), Intel, Nvidia, Exxon, Boeing, Tesla, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, eBay, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Levi's, SpaceX, Disney, Pixar, General Electric, Gap, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks, I'm glad to pay it. [1] Norway's per capita income adjusted by cost of living <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GNI_(PPP)_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GNI_(PPP)...> is much higher than the US's because of its oil—it's basically a Persian Gulf petrostate relocated to northern Europe—but the US's is ~18% higher than Denmark's and Sweden's, and ~30% higher than Finland's. (And, before you ask, when measured by median net income, the gap between America and other developed nations shrinks but the US still does quite well, at #6 worldwide.) At $41,071 the US has the highest household net disposable income per capita in the OECD <http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-states/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-states/>, where "disposable income" <http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=46 http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=46> accounts for healthcare and government benefits.