# Is income inequality bad for a society?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-income-inequality-bad-for-a-society/606170>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 14, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-income-inequality-bad-for-a-society/606170 "2011-12-14T15:12:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-income-inequality-bad-for-a-society/606170/2 "2011-12-14T15:23:36Z")

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Inequality of opportunity is bad for society. Inequality of outcomes should be treated as neutral. So, income inequality is not bad if opportunities are equal. And if income inequality exists because of inequality of opportunity, that’s where government should focus. That’s, or should be, the easy part. But I doubt people on either side of the spectrum of political debate agree on even this.

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