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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs
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To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (44491)7/29/2010 3:33:08 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 71588
 
Sure: the post-war "American Miracle" with the emergence of the Middle Class.

That isn't evidence for your statement. First of all its one time period, not many, and it describes a result of many policies, influences and actions not one. Its useless as evidence.

Even ignoring those points and pretending it was useful, it isn't an example of a period with relative equality, and relatively rapid economic growth. It doesn't show in any way that if equality decreased from that point growth would have been slower or that if equality increased growth would have been faster. Many other cases have the opposite situation. Rapid economic growth leads to greater inequality. Look at Chine in modern times for example. Your example is only evidence that greater equality (than we have now) is not incompatible with higher economic growth. Not that it caused it, or made it more stable, or caused it to continue for a longer period of time.

As for plutocratic societies, they are essentially irrelevant to the point under consideration. Plutocracy is rule by the rich, which is not the same as relatively unequal income or wealth levels.

And if we are going to examine them, well relatively plutocratic societies in ancient or mid-evil times (or pretty much any times before the industrial revolution) had lower levels of growth because all societies (including the most equal) had lower levels of long term economic growth back then.

The explosion of growth that occurred with the industrial revolution and later development occurred in the context of large disparities of wealth.
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