Is increasing economic inequality inevitable without catastrophe?

ucbalumnus
Fri, 12 May 2017 15:23:27 +0000

droppedit:

I’ll choose an era of rising economic inequality over the slaughter of millions every time. Do you want economic inequality or equal misery?

The problem is that extreme levels of economic inequality and lack of economic opportunity can lead to the catastrophic events. Specifically, if the majority of the population sees only downward mobility and no upward mobility within the existing political and economic system, revolutionary demogogues with charisma can influence them, even if what they are selling will result in the slaughter of millions or other catastrophic events. Think of how far left or communist economic ideologies become popular in places where nominally-capitalist economies have large numbers of people without hope, or how racist extremists gain popularity by labeling minorities as the reason for the majority’s economic woes.