MIT Economist Daron Acemoglu writes in The Economist that there are three main reasons to care about worsening income inequality: Harmful effects on personal well-being, limited equality of opportunity, and more concentrated political power. On the third point, he writes: "Economic power tends to beget political power even in democratic and pluralistic societies. In the United States, this tends to work through campaign contributions and access to politicians that wealth and money tend to buy. This political channel implies another, potentially more powerful and distortionary link between inequality and a non-level playing field. It may also create pathways from inequality to instability, because both the economic and political implications of inequality can create various backlashes."
Read the complete article here.
Read the CCPA's contribution in 2007 to the discussion about why income inequality matters here.