“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” (Warren Buffett)
So what answer do you have? Do we just put up with it, and if so, for how long?
This is a moral, an Epicurean, issue. It’s about a civilised life of dignity and fairness, of enjoying one’s life and not being beset by never-ending worry. If the question isn’t asked by an Epicurean, who else will ask it? The religions seem to be silent, in America at least.
Interestingly, it seems to be the most secular minded people who are the most concerned about the disproportionate accumulation of wealth by the rich. Bernie for instance, is a non religious Jew. Elizabeth Warren is a fairly nominal Catholic. Hillary and all of the Republicans on the other hand, are commuted Christians (occasionally Jews.) Traditionally this hasn’t always been the case. Many of the first charities were Christian, and the Labour Party had a strong non conformist Christian influence.
I think there is a tendency within religion to defend hierarchy. The Orthodox Church taught people to revere the Tsar and the nobility. The Anglican Church taught people loyalty to the Crown. There’s an old hymn that goes, ‘the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, God made them high and lowly, and ordered their estate.’ In other words, inequality is inevitable because God made it so. So don’t go looking to religion to solve this issue.
But as much as I am concerned about inequality, and the adverse effects it has on social mobility, I don’t agree with Warren Buffet or Bernie Sanders on this, I think they go too far. I don’t believe there’s a concerted effort on behalf of the wealthy, to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor. There have been some people who have engaged in illegal or at least highly unethical behaviour to get rich, and obviously that’s wrong. But if you’ve become rich through your own efforts and talent, that’s totally different. It’s wrong to refer to the rich as a homogeneous group of people; the reality is that the rich are a very diverse bunch who are fortunate for a variety of reasons. And many who are rich now almost certainly won’t be rich in the future.