Should we be worried about income inequality? Should we apologize if it rises? Should we brag about a decrease in this statistic? No, no, and no are the proper answers to these questions, at least for those interested in defending what little remains of our free enterprise system.
It is all well and good to insist that the supposed rise in this statistic is based on “an illusion created by the Census Bureau’s failure to account for taxes and welfare.” Yes, yes, the post-tax and subsidy income distribution is more equal than before these transfers are undertaken. This is because our fiscal system is broadly speaking “progressive” in both the mathematical and political sense: on net balance it tends to take money from the rich and distribute it to the poor. This of course ignores regulations, tariffs, licenses, and other not strictly pecuniary transfer issues, which again, in general, tend to benefit the wealthy more than the impoverished, but that is entirely another matter.
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