Income inequality is not the problem...

It seems we get hung up and distracted by focusing on income and wealth inequality which are necessary creations of capitalism, surprise, surprise. Don't confuse the symptom with the underlying cause. Taxing the rich will not succeed in equalizing wealth since the powerful will always find a way around these temporary obstacles. Unless the decisions on the utilization of resources (natural and human) is in the hands of the people, the capitalist will always find a way to utilize these resources for himself.

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Pauli Olivet commented 2016-09-16 17:45:26 -0400
It seems like you are separating the wealthy and the powerful (money and power). Wouldn’t there be a large overlap? One can buy power, and one can use power to extract money and wealth. The overlap is not perfect, but a person with a lot of one will probably invest in some balance of the two. Probably any change to level income and wealth will also address power dynamics. If execs and professionals at Exxon are adjusted to new roles in a new and fair economy, wouldn’t the pollution and destruction of the environment be addressed in parallel.
Paul Lebow published this page in Ask Prof. Wolff 2016-09-15 20:08:15 -0400