If everyone is concerned about inequality, what, we might ask, does equality mean? In this short introductory programme to a WORLDbytes series on equality Daniel Ben-Ami tells us that campaigns against inequality today are not about making us better off. Far from it he explains, the driving force is fear of a fragmenting society by an anxious middle class concerned “to curb what it regards as excesses at both the top and bottom of society. It sees itself as living in a nightmare world being ripped apart by greedy bankers at one extreme and ‘trailer trash’ at the other.” All that this obsession nurtures is more interference in our lives, regulation, attacks on freedom and our aspirations. ‘Fairness’ means everyone making sacrifices and a culture of restraint which of course suits politicians’ austerity drive.
Recommended link:
- Book by Daniel Ben-Ami, Ferraris For All: In Defence of Economic Progress
