[PEN-L:134] Re: The Left and Inequality

[June Zaccone <ecojmz@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Two problems with this argument--even if one accepts Nove's sassessment
of the effect of redistribution on incomes:
If income and asset distribution were less uneven, the rich would have
less political power, which they use to change government policy in
their favor.

Their consumption shapes not only what is produced but the aspirations
and sense of well-being of many of those who have less, so that they
consume more than they would in a more egalitarian economy, and yet
feel/are deprived. Poorer  people lose out on good public transportation
where many people have cars. I am convinced that public telephones will
soon be gone or left unfixed as more people have cell phones, so that
one will have not much choice about buying one. June Zaccone

Robert Naiman writes:

> I have been reading Alec Nove's "Economics of Feasible Socialism Revisited" and came across his argument that the Left is misguided when it puts too much emphasis on the wealth of the super-rich, on the grounds that redistributing the wealth or income of the super-rich will not go very far.