Poverty vs Inequality
From what I can tell, this is similar to the argument Harry Frankfurt makes in On Inequality. Though I do not hold the strong belief that equality has no moral concern, just that it is secondary to poverty.
If this idea holds water, I think it is a place that people with different perspectives on the benefits of free-market Capitalism can come together and agree. For this thinking, it is not required to accept that all incomes should be the same, or even draw a line for how much inequality is acceptable. Rather, this thinking requires only an initial agreement that poverty should be avoided first.
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“What happens when a society starts to generate substantial wealth? An increase in absolute inequality (the difference between the richest and poorest) is almost a mathematical necessity.” (Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now)
Relevant to Poverty vs Inequality. This point may be true, but it doesn’t mean it is necessary that the increase in absolute inequality grow exponentially.
“The confusion of inequality with poverty comes straight out of the lump fallacy—the mindset in which wealth is a finite resource, like an antelope carcass, which has to be divvied up in zero-sum fashion, so that if some people end up with more, others must have less.” (Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now)
Poverty vs Inequality, Value is created and not zero-sum
“Inequality in self-reported happiness in the American population has actually declined.60 And though I find it distasteful, even grotesque, to celebrate declining Ginis for life, health, and education (as if killing off the healthiest and keeping the smartest out of school would be good for humanity), they have in fact declined for the right reasons: the lives of the poor are improving more rapidly than the lives of the rich.61” (Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now)
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Need to look at this underlying data. Related to Happiness inequality in Americans has declined, Poverty vs Inequality
“Frankfurt argues that inequality itself is not morally objectionable; what is objectionable is poverty.” (Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now)
This is an interesting point to grapple with. I agree with this to a certain degree. Poverty vs Inequality. Harry Frankfurt