The biggest problem with wealth inequality is that it really pisses people off.

We are currently living in the most prosperous era of humanity’s entire existence.

One hour of minimum wage now can buy things that kings and emperors of old could never hope to
experience:

Fruit from halfway across the world, ripe and fresh, during the winter.

Antibacterial paste, turning what would be a lethal scrape only a hundred years ago into a minor
annoyance.

Hell, even without spending a single dime, the poorest among us can go to a library and access the
summation of all human knowledge.

Now, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not saying, “Look how good you have it. Stop complaining about
being poor!”

I’m saying we could have free, flying cars for everyone. We could have gold plated toilet seats. We
could have personal butlers and champagne showers installed in every household.

Wealth inequality would still be a problem.

Not because I believe everyone should, or deserves, to have the same amount of money. But
because wealth inequality pisses people off, regardless of how good they have it.

Envy and jealousy are some of the strongest emotions that drive human behaviour. Envy has started
wars. Jealousy has thrown people into rages where they kill their loved ones without remorse.

Massive wealth inequality leads to massive envy.

Massive envy leads to this.

And this.

And more recently, this.

The more wealth inequality there is, the more young men get envious. That envy turns to anger.
That anger turns to violence. There is no force more terrifying than masses of disenfranchised young
men who believe they have no future, because they’re comparing their lives to the lives of
billionaires with unattainable lifestyles.

And when hundreds of thousands of young men believe they have no future, they get pissed off.
Millions of people die. Governments are overthrown. Businesses fail. Economies collapse. Power
shifts.

They don’t care about the burning libraries.

They don’t care about the lack of antibiotics.

They don’t care about the lack of fruits and vegetables.

They don’t care about the 90% of people between the poorest and the richest who will suffer
because of their rage.

All they care about is ‘giving the rich what they deserve.’

And in the aftermath, average people climbing out of the ruins get to look forward to post-
revolution governments that are historically far more corrupt, far more authoritarian, and far more
willing to kill than the one that came before.

Wealth inequality is a problem because when it reaches a peak, those at the bottom are willing to
destroy everything and everyone to drag those at the top down.

Even if it means destroying themselves.