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If bothers me if he spends that money exerting an outsized influence on my political institutions, though. Wealth inequality isn't really about wealth so much a
by nathan_compton 9mo ago
If bothers me if he spends that money exerting an outsized influence on my political institutions, though. Wealth inequality isn't really about wealth so much as power. I really don't care if Musk or anyone else lives more comfortably than me, but I do care if they have more than one figurative vote in how my society functions.
- cryptonector 9mo agoBut that does not address whether the wealth inequality in question causes despair (it almost certainly does not).
- GrowingSideways 9mo agoWhat makes you think wealth inequality doesn't cause despair? Despair strikes me as the expected and desired effect.
- cryptonector 9mo agoHunger and struggling to pay one's bills -- those cause despair. Envy surely does not (and should not). And anyways the claim that relative wealth inequality (as opposed to actual poverty) causes despair is an extraordinary claim and it requires that you present extraordinary evidence.
- john-h-k 9mo agoWhen is having an outsized influence allowed? Someone who pickets for a candidate will have an outsized influence; so will celebrities with many followers, etc.
- nathan_compton 9mo agoYou can't solve every problem, but that isn't an excuse to solve no problems. If you can buy an entire platform that functions more like public service or utility than a company and modify its political alignment, you have too much power.