This stunning and eminently relevant TED talk by Richard Wilkinson “charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust.” Wilkinson presents data that shows clearly how increased income inequality has a direct, discernible negative impact on the general wellbeing of a society. Economic growth (GDP), still vitally important for developing nations, is no longer as important as economic equality, for developed industrial democracies.
More unequal societies have higher levels of violence, crime, family breakdown, and lower levels of social mobility. The ills of a society with high income inequality are exacerbated and driven deeper into the fabric of society as income inequality widens. It is even demonstrable that more unequal countries are more likely to have capital punishment and justice systems with socio-economic bias problems. There is “general social dysfunction related to inequality; it’s not just one or two things that go wrong, it’s most things.”