from “Why Inequality Matters”, #BrankoMilanovic https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2024/08/14/why-inequality-matters/
Text: High inequality has also political effects. The rich have more political power and they use that political power to promote their own interests and to entrench their relative position in society. This means that all the negative effects due to exclusion and lack of equality of opportunity are reinforced and made permanent (at least, until a big social earthquake destroys them). In order to fight off the advent of such an earthquake, the rich must make themselves safe and unassailable from "conquest". • This leads to adversarial politics and destroys social cohesion. Ironically, the social instability which then results discourages investments of the rich, that is it undermines the very action that was at the beginning adduced as the key reason why high wealth and inequality may be socially desirable.