[sedachv]

> If the poor end of the wealth gap are still better off than 90% of the rest of the world, why does the wealth gap matter?

Standard of living increases have come almost exclusively through technological progress. Access to basic survival needs like food (Google "food desert") and shelter (look at rent prices for the past year) is primarily driven by capital speculation by the upper classes.

The repeal of much of the commercial anti-trust regulation in the United States (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/cities-e...) enabled capital-consolidating retailers like Walmart to come to a position where they can drive out competitors through predatory pricing (not always noticeable from Walmart's own books because sometimes it is passed down the supply chain). After driving local retailers out of business in some places, as expected some of the speculative expansion does not pay off and Walmart stores have to be closed. Now some regions in the USA are left without access to food: http://time.com/money/4192512/walmart-stores-closing-small-t...

Similarly, anti-development NIMBY policies lobbied for by the upper classes (artificial limit on supply of building sites) combined with the REITs they invest in (impossible for REITs to generate decent returns on B-class housing due to shortage of sites and the huge amount of capital needing to be invested) are the causes responsible for the huge increase in rent prices in major US metropolitan areas.

By far the biggest harm that comes from the wealth gap are the austerity policies pushed by the upper classes to prevent people from having access to education and healthcare. I now need both hands to count the number of acquaintances that have resorted to being sugar babies on Seeking Arrangements or just plain prostitution to help them pay their way through college.