[lanstin]

Isn’t the problem with inequality that it makes the society less stable? More envy and less feeling of being part of a group? It is good that poverty in the world is much less and there are more people in the middle class but it is also a problem that wages in the US are stagnant for large swath of the population that feels like it isn’t part of the group anymore and makes trouble because of it.

[squirrelicus]

When you convince people they're being robbed because of inequality, it's a problem. Envy is the problem. It's a cognitive defect. There's a reason it's a considered a sin. You are not entitled to what other people have, and justifying that feeling is how you destroy prosperity for all.

[majewsky]

> Isn’t the problem with inequality that it makes the society less stable?

Yes. However, too much equality also makes society too static, because no one is incentivized to innovate anymore. The problem, as always, is maintaining the right balance.

[yesenadam]

>However, too much equality also makes society too static, because no one is incentivized to innovate anymore.

Sorry if this is a naive question, but is that really true? What's the evidence for believing that, much less treating it as fact?

[tatersolid]

> Sorry if this is a naive question, but is that really true? What's the evidence for believing that, much less treating it as fact?

The economic collapse of the Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact counties, Venezuela, North Korea.

By allowing a free market invasion in their Communist utopia, the Chinese Communist Party long ago abandoned their core ideology in favor of “pragmatic authoritarianism.” They get to stay in power, while reaping economic benefits impossible in a truly communist economy.

[yesenadam]

So you see all those places as having "too much equality"? And that, particularly, caused lack of innovation which made them too static?

[tatersolid]

Yes. There was essentially zero upward economic mobility in those societies, except for the party elite. When only 0.001% of your society has any possibility of bettering their circumstances, innovation stagnates.

It is still true that most anybody can get rich in a capitalist economy if they’re some combination of smart, hard-working, or lucky. This causes lots of people to try.