Let's talk about capitalism and inequality.
Do they come hand in hand? Is inequality bad or is it necessary? Is it unavoidable? If capitalism is about the big fish eating the smaller fish, is there a certain point where this mechanism starts getting detrimental to the majority of the society? Should governments be concerned about not allowing inequality to reach a certain extent? Is the middle class shrinking a warning sign that capitalism has taken a self-destructive path that leads to a totalitarian leftist system?
If anyone is familiar with Piketty's work, I would appreciate some summing up of his ideas too.
Inequality existed before capitalism.
>>1406946
that's debatable
some kind of barter probably always existed
>>1406950
Some kind of barter isn't capitalism. The same as some kind of sharing isn't literally communism.
>>1406916
>Do they come hand in hand?
Yes.
>Is inequality bad or is it necessary?
It's inevitable.
>>1406916
>Do they come hand in hand?
Less so than in most ways society has been arranged (e.g. feudalism).
>Is inequality bad or is it necessary? Is it unavoidable?
It's neither bad nor avoidable. It's a necessary result of freedom.
>If capitalism is about the big fish eating the smaller fish
It's not.
Should governments be concerned about not allowing inequality to reach a certain extent?
Only when the powerful use that power to transform it into something else, like de facto autocracy. It all comes down to whether social mobility is possible.
>Is the middle class shrinking a warning sign that capitalism has taken a self-destructive path that leads to a totalitarian leftist system?
No.
