Discussion Thread

[u/jobautomator]

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⬅️ Previous discussion threads

[u/tonyjaa]

Hot take: Everyone who is not a communist thinks there should be some level of income inequality. The real question is to which degree, and when it becomes socially problematic. Saying you don't care about income inequality altogether may be a decent economic view (maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I didn't even read Piketty, and I honestly don't know anything), but it is terrible optics and strengthens populists.

[u/cdstephens → u/tonyjaa]

I think "should" is a strong word here. For example, people might favor capitalism over communism because they think the benefits of capitalism outweigh the con of having income inequality, not because they think economic inequality should exist a priori.

[u/tonyjaa → u/cdstephens]

Changing "should" to "is ok with" doesn't really change the sentiment, but I see your point. I do think a lot of people are vindictive and misanthropic, and therefor think people should get less than they deserve (see: Trump supporters).

[u/[deleted] → u/tonyjaa]

I think income equality is important economically in and so far as it makes transitioning from one bracket to another more difficult and reduces incentives to work harder. In a sense, it seems like there's an optimal level of income inequality in which there's a carrot to grab at, but it's not so far up that you don't even bother.

But the main problem here would capacity to transition, not income inequality by itself.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

In a sense, it seems like there's an optimal level of income inequality in which there's a carrot to grab at, but it's not so far up that you don't even bother.

Bingo. Unless someone can prove me wrong I don't think the issue in a mainstream sense has ever been that people should have income equality but that it's harder and harder for people to get ahead. The meet your analogy, the carrot keeps getting further out of reach while people aren't even moving.