Ryan McMaken provides an excellent response to the current the inequality is the root of evil nonsense.
It is amazing how many on the left choose not celebrate the tremendous success of liberal institutions that support markets in generating prosperity. The evidence of the success of these classical liberal institutions; markets, property rights, and the rule of law: poverty was turned on its head.Areas adopting such institutions flipped the world wide long term norm of a 90-95 percent real poverty with 5-10 percent relatively better off but living actually in much less pleasant conditions than typical middle class in a modern market oriented economy to a 90-95 percent well off with 5-10 percent poor in a relative but even most of these living above absolute poverty norm which still exists in many non-developed, non-market economies. Instead they argue for abandonment of these institutions for their failure to raise that 5-10 percent even further.
An absurd outcome of a focus on inequality rather than poverty and an abandonment of quest begun by A. Smith to understand the nature and cause of the wealth of nations.
