Originally Posted by Derid
We need to remember that wealth can be created and even destroyed, not just distributed. If other sectors are able to generate more wealth, inequality is reduced.


I understand what you are trying to say, but it is still inaccurate. Absolute amount of wealth and its distribution are different concepts. In a hypothetical land of plenty, someone who accumulated twice as much as I have is still twice as rich as I am despite both of us having plenty. Humans are hard-wired for comparative assessment of wealth and you don't actually have to have reach the point of death and starvation for the poor to hit critical point where disaffected populations starts undermining the system.

A few (many?) years ago we had a discussion about effects of wealth inequality on destabilization of governance. All historical data points to US being at the threshold. To the point that I got seriously concerned and got out. Well, now there is Trump. What comes next will be even worse. Hopefully Internet is still running in a decade so we can commiserate on how comparatively sane things were in 2018.

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