DYNAMICS OF INEQUALITY
Wealth gap will swallow our freedom
No one who believes in freedom and democracy can tolerate South Africa’s brand of inequality, writes Xhanti Payi
There is a pervasive notion that to speak of inequality is to oppose wealth creation or harbour some morbid obsession with the rich. This notion is as unhelpful as it is mischievous. Inequality is not a matter of concern because of the dramatic statistical expressions we see in the media. It is the effect it has on reinforcing and entrenching poverty, and the distorting effect it has on democratic outcomes. Thus, the question is not so much about inequality itself, but how it comes to be, and what it causes to be. In his lecture, Harvard University economist and historian David S Landes contended with the issue of inequality in asking the question, "Why are we so rich and they so poor?". He argued that the answer lay in one of two explanations. First, that the rich are so because they are good: hardworking, knowledgeable, educated and productive, while the poor are the reverse. In the alternative, that the rich are so because they are bad: greedy, ruthless, exploitative and aggressi...
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