[ranie93]

There is contention about what this supposed progress entails; if its as great as touted, if we could be doing much better, etc.

This open letter is a good starting point: https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2019/2/3/pinker-and-global-...

>There is nothing worth celebrating about a world where inequality is so extreme that 58% of people are in poverty, while a few dozen billionaires have more than all of their wealth combined

I also think the point about changing goalposts to focusing on proportions (the absolute number of people in poverty is increasing) is interesting

[bhupy]

The problem with this line of thinking is

1) The amount of wealth held by ultra-billionaires isn't nearly enough to solve our poverty problems. If you seized literally all of the wealth of the the entire Forbes 400, it would fund the US federal government for 8 months.

2) Wealth is illiquid, and if one were to seize it, you can only seize it once. It isn't an ongoing stream unlike, say, income. So to amend the last statement, if you seized literally all of the wealth of the entire Forbes 400, it would fund the US government for 8 months, one time.

3) Wealth is not zero-sum, it is created. The global inflation-adjusted GDP has gone up from ~$2T in the mid 20th century to ~$110T today. The ultra-wealthy have enjoyed most of that growth, but one can argue that it's because they created that wealth. I.e. Bill Gates' net worth is only as much as it is because he created Microsoft, which has added ~$1T (its market cap) to the US GDP.

[ranie93]

Without checking the figures, I can agree with the idea that a one-time seizement wouldn't assuage much.

Certainly Bill Gates and his endeavors have created immense value for many.

None of these points are being contested or purported in the "line of thinking" you mention (the letter I linked I assume?)

[bhupy]

> None of these points are being contested or purported in the "line of thinking" you mention (the letter I linked I assume?)

These points are being purported/contested here:

"There is nothing worth celebrating about a world where inequality is so extreme that 58% of people are in poverty, while a few dozen billionaires have more than all of their wealth combined"

[ranie93]

They're not, but its fine to read between the lines. The letter makes no allusions to seizing wealth or stating that immense wealth hasn't been created.

[bhupy]

My point is that the more useful description of the problem is:

“There is nothing worth celebrating about a world where 58% of people are in poverty”.

The “inequality” and the presence of billionaires is a distraction from the real problem: poverty.

[tootahe45]

A one-time seizement assumes the money is just sitting there in a high-interest savings account or something. This is why we need proper education, but as soon as you mention basket weaving class should probably be replaced with something more relevant, you're a right-winger trying to dumb down the population.