LogFAQs > #979538570

Count_Drachma posted...

The closer you get to perfect income/financial equality, the poorer societies tend to be. Likewise, as nations grow wealthier, inequality tends to increase.

Other way round, dude. If you're measuring a nation's wealth by its GDP, that's looking primarily at the performance of its wealthiest people and companies. That inherently means that as wealth inequality increases and more and more wealth gets tied up in the hands of billionaires who don't keep it liquid, GDP will go up. Conversely, GDP goes down when wealth inequality is lower and more regular people that keep a greater proportion of their assets liquid have a greater share of the pie.

"Wealth inequality is correlated with GDP" ignores the simple reality that GDP pretty much is wealth inequality. Focusing on GDP instead of personal purchasing power and other metrics that measure the economy in terms of everyone's quality of life only makes sense if you're looking for an opportunity to fellate a billionaire.