Why Decry the Wealth Gap?

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Jan 25 17:46:07 PST 2000


Max Sawicky wrote:


>I wasn't talking about feeling justified.
>I was talking about having a greater political
>impact. Details in this context, in my
>experience, heighten the interest of an
>audience because of their specificity.
>They also amplify the possibility that
>you are some kind of expert and may
>actually know what you are talking
>about (even if you don't).

My rational side says that numbers are important because people tend to overestimate the wealth and income of others, and have a subjective poverty line that's something like twice the U.S. government's. My irrational side says that the numbers don't really matter, and that the overestimates are the product of fantasy, and may be immune to rational refutation.

Doug



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list