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Please stop focusing on inequality. What matters is whether the quality of life for the most impoverished is increasing or decreasing. Consider: would you rat
by Ferret7446 3y ago
Please stop focusing on inequality. What matters is whether the quality of life for the most impoverished is increasing or decreasing.
Consider: would you rather increase the standard of living of the poorest by 2x if it meant also increasing it for the richest by 100x (increasing inequality) or would you rather decrease the standard of living of the richest by 100x and also the poorest by 2x (decreasing inequality). A lot of discourse around inequality seriously proposes the latter (out of ignorance rather than malice).
- science4sail 3y agoA lot of life satisfaction is tied to positional goods: real estate, social status, political power, etc. For positional goods, relative wealth matters far more than absolute wealth. If you have a population whose happiness is culturally tied to the stereotypical "single-family house owner with a picket fence and 2.1 kids attending Ivy League schools" lifestyle, then your latter solution (where everyone gets poorer) might actually be preferable.