How does income inequality hurt ANYONE

[Jim in CT]

OK, I saw a speech last night, where Obama said "income inequality is a threat to the American dream". Hilary has also railed against the downside of income inequality.

In all seriousness, can someone explain to me how income inequality actually harms anyone? Because I don't get it.

The average NBA player makes more than I do. That contributes to income inequality. Next year, the average NBA player will get a bigger raise than I will, which exacerbates income inequality. The difference between my salary, and theirs, will increase. Income inequality will get more severe.

How does that hurt me? Why should I care? Answer - it doesn't, and I don't.

The way I see it, this can only impact me if wealth is finite, like a pizza. It only hurts me if every dollar an NBA player gets, means there's one less dollar for the rest of us to scrounge for. Does anyone believe there is a speck of truth to that?

Maybe one can make a slightly less insane argument that wealth is finite within a single corporation, that the more a CEO makes, the less his employees can make. Let's say I buy that argument. The left's number one corporate target for overall meanness, is Walmart.

I looked it up. The Walmart CEO made $19.1M in the last fiscal year. Walmart has 1.4 million employees in the US. So even if we assume the Walmart CEO is willing to work 70 hours a week for absolutely nothing, and every cent of that goes to the US employees, that works out to $13.64 for each employee. Now they can all go buy a house on Nantucket and send their kids to Phillip Exeter?

The rich have more disposable income to invest than normal people. Therefore, elementary school arithmetic guarantees that the rich will increase their net worth faster than everyone else.

The wealth gap will widen. That may not be "fair", since no one needs a $100 million boat while others are homeless. I concede the gap isn't "fair". But who, specifically, is it hurting, and how?

Unless you are talking about theft, one person's wealth does not cause another person's poverty. It simply doesn't work that way.

It seems to me that those inclined to vote Democratic, are constantly looking to blame someone else for whatever financial issues they are facing. It's a lot easier to blame someone else than it is to take responsibility.

I want everyone to be comfortable, and it pains me that not everyone is. But the income earned by the wealthy, except in cases of theft, simply isn't "taking" anything away from anyone else.