Giving Compass' Take:

• Resource Generation author Limay writes about structural inequality and how redistribution of wealth can happen through policy reform and support of movements addressing core issues in inequality. 

• How can we advance movements working towards equality AND  equity and change the conversation around things like welfare and universal healthcare?

• Read about why wealth distribution of interest to everybody. 

One of the most insidious consequences of the rampant wealth inequality generated by capitalism is the idea that the individual matters more than the collective. If you are rich, it’s because you worked hard and deserve it. If you are poor, it’s because you are lazy and deserve it. Either way, it’s up to the individual.

And even if we see through the myth of meritocracy and want to end a system that makes a few people richer and richer at the expense of everyone else, the ‘solutions’ that get the most traction usually center an individual’s actions.

These are the actions and movements that need more attention and more robust and accurate coverage. I worry that stories that only address an individual’s urge to redistribute wealth will be used by an overwhelmingly class privileged and wealthy media to further the myth of individualism. Here’s my plea to anyone writing about wealth inequality: stop fawning over embarrassed and angsty millionaires and instead lift up those working on systemic solutions to wealth inequality.

The more time we spend examining the decisions and feelings of the rich and the poor, the more we obscure the violent and racist economic system we live in. Structural problems require structural solutions. Redistribution can take many forms, from a progressive tax system that taxes the wealthy at much higher rates to fund social safety nets like universal health care or a guaranteed basic income to capping salaries to outlawing trust funds. No system of wealth redistribution is complete without centering a lens of reparations.

Read the full article about wealth redistribution by Limay at Resource Generation.