> “If the top 1 per cent of income earners just paid the taxes they owed, the country would raise an additional $175bn a year. That’s almost enough money to fil

> “If the top 1 per cent of income earners just paid the taxes they owed, the country would raise an additional $175bn a year. That’s almost enough money to fill the poverty gap.” But to blame the 1 per cent alone is too easy and too “absolving”, and Desmond has a “reflex against things that absolve us”. He points to the broader chunk of the American population — perhaps the richest quarter, many of them avowed liberals — who hoover up tax credits, demand cheap goods and oppose the construction of affordable housing where they live. > In other words, if poverty is the result of individual decisions, it is largely decisions by the rich. Desmond wants the wealthy to “take less” in exchange for a safer, fairer, less anxious society. Are they ready to listen? In graphs across many dimensions, America is an outlier and not an exceptional one. First we have to actually want to fix it. Then we need to figure out a mechanism. The mechanisms are the easy part.