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A comment on Economists Are Rethinking the Numbers on Inequality. Parent comment

Re:Economists Are Rethinking the Numbers on Inequality by anoncake on Friday December 06, 2019 @08:18AM (#21721497)
> The government having this much information on people creates an information asymmetry in society that makes the state incomparably powerful relative to private citizens.

Government, in a democratic society, is simply the citizens wielding their power collectively. It cannot possibly be more powerful than the citizens it serves.

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Re:Economists Are Rethinking the Numbers on Inequality by CryptoPunk on Saturday December 07, 2019 @04:37AM (#21729341)
A democratic system of rules doesn't mean a democratic distribution of power. Rules rarely have their intended effect 100%.

In all democracies, elites form, which wield far more political power, and derive far more benefit from government, than voters.

Even in a perfectly democratic society, giving the majority, acting collectively through their government, so much power over individuals would be dangerous, because it would create enormous rent-seeking opportunities for those who wield the most influence over public opinion and because it would endanger persecuted minorities.

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