&gt; <i>If we had a society with no poverty and perfect social mobility, and economic inequality didn&#x27;t translate into social or political inequality, would it be that bad if there was also great variation in wealth?</i><p>That&#x27;s saying that if money weren&#x27;t, well, money, it wouldn&#x27;t matter much if some people had a lot of it and others didn&#x27;t have any.<p>But money is money; <i>that&#x27;s why they call it money</i> [1]. Wealth inequality directly translates into social immobility, because the first thing rich people do is try to make sure their children stay that way, and there&#x27;s only so much room at the top. Wealth inequality directly translates into political inequality, because why not? If you get to meet the President what are you going to talk about, but the political issues that directly concern you or your business?<p>Strict equality is impossible, of course. Some degree of inequality may in fact be desirable. But immense inequality tears society apart.<p>[1] Paraphrased from Heist, 2001. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt0252503&#x2F;quotes" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt0252503&#x2F;quotes</a>