• • The fraudulent case for the benefits of wealth inequality 
Chris Lehmann, The Awl Capitalism  | “It’s probably a good thing that the public underestimates how much wealth inequality there is,” [George Mason University’s Bryan D.] Caplan says with a patronizing air rather unbecoming of a doctrinaire libertarian. After all, he explains, “they tend not to understand the ways that wealth inequality is good.” And how does Caplan possess the magisterial authority to proclaim a crushing paucity of material justice “good”? Well, we’re not sure, exactly—though his homepage autobiography helpfully explains that “It began with Ayn Rand, as it proverbially does.” He does go on to explain that he later came to regard his youthful infatuation with Objectivism and hardline Austrian economic theory as “mistakes.”   Published: 2010-10-25