On Mon, 4 Mar 2019 13:23:45 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
wrote:

On Sunday, March 3, 2019 at 4:37:42 PM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:
Wealth inequality and income inequality are, in themselves, at
the root of most social ills. Not being rich. Not being poor.

How can income inequality _in itself_ be a problem? Only being excessively poor is legitimately a problem; otherwise, you're legitimizing envy, it seems.

Well, that demands a lot more space than is reasonable here. Look at
the work of Wilkinson, Pickett, Stiglitz. The correlations between
income, and especially wealth, inequality are strong and extend to
virtually every social ill. (And it is seen over solid data extending
back over 250 years.) And there is a growing body of work by social
scientists and economists explaining the causative factors. And it
isn't being poor. Social problems are far more severe in rich nations
with large inequality than in poor ones that are more egalitarian.

In the end, it probably comes down to our sense of fairness, and our
sense of common identity. When disparities grow too large, we end up
with class struggles and a society with subcultures where there is no
common identity.