America is trying to come to terms with its economic inequality. Does inequality spur growth or kill it? Is it a necessary evil—or necessarily bad? Angus Deaton, an economics professor at Princeton, and the recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics, is asked questions like these all the time—and he doesn’t see the point.

“These are questions I am often asked,” Deaton writes in a column (paywall) for Project Syndicate. “But, truth be told, none of them is particularly helpful, answerable, or even well posed.”

Deaton believes the biggest misconception about inequality is that it causes certain economic, political, and social processes. But that’s backward. Economic inequality is a symptom of processes—some good, some bad—that drive the global economy. It’s the residue of a post-industrialized age.

Two types of inequality

What we should actually investigate is which types of inequality are fair, and which are not. “Inequality is not the same thing as unfairness; and, to my mind, it is the latter that has incited so much political turmoil in the rich world today,” says Deaton.

Some types of inequality feel instinctively ok. Americans adore inventors and rags-to-riches heroes—people like Joy Mangano, whose invention of the Miracle Mop inspired the 2015 David O. Russel movie Joy. But innovators rising net worths contribute to inequality. Aspects of globalization and technological change, like outsourcing and robotics, also suppress worker wages while benefiting the rich.

But these alone can’t explain why median incomes have stagnated for half a century, while incomes at the top have skyrocketed.

What’s unfair

To Deaton, there are other economic and social processes that propagate inequality, and they’re unfair.

[I'm just posting his 7 topic headings. Follow the link to read the article in total. TM]

Healthcare financing.
Mergers.
The sluggish federal minimum wage.
Diminishing worker power.
The rise of temps. [replacing full-time, salaried workers]
The growth of the stock market.
Corporate wins in politics.

snip
https://qz.com/1166356/nobel-prize-winni...out-inequality/

I really like Deaton's insight that “Inequality is not the same thing as unfairness"

I'd modify his list of 7 mostly liberal solutions.

I'd certainly add what we saw during the Obama years -- Outright Cronyism[rewarding friends], Lack of Transparency [stonewalling FOIA requests], Judicial Legislating by the Courts [ACA was a tax], Unelected Bureaucrats Running Washington [the swamp, EPA, BLM, Dept of Ed, etc], Career Politicians [again, the swamp], Presidential Governing by Executive Order [usurping the will of the people/elected legislators].