[turk-]

Globalization is the cause of inequality. Technology just facilitates it. Capitalism leads to a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and periods of globalization have resulted in high levels of inequality. Inequality today is comparable to the levels during the gilded age and there was no IT back in the 1870's.

[ivl]

Globalized capitalism has caused the largest reduction in poverty ever. If you had to be randomly born anywhere in the world, only getting to pick the date, you'd be smart to pick today if you wanted a decent shot at life.

Now, with regard to inequality in the US, that's mostly self inflicted. Moving production to cheaper areas lowers prices. It just so happens that the US chooses policies that increase inequality, rather than decrease it, like how education is funded.

[chroem-]

>Globalized capitalism has caused the largest reduction in poverty ever.

This is a non-sequitur that often gets touted, despite totally ignoring efforts of NGO's, improvements in technology and industrialization, as well as decolonization. Further, the majority of the world's most developed economies, e.g. China, Japan, and the US, all relied on heavy protectionism to at first foster the creation of local industry. Forcing open the economies of developing nations is a surefire way to keep them poor and totally dependent on foreign imports.

[bluGill]

Inequality is NOT a problem though. Poverty is a problem, but that is a different issue from inequality. Once you have the basics met (food, shelter) everything else is a luxury. A mud hut without enough to eat is not a life I would want to live, but I could live that way. Take away the hut or the food and I won't survive.

I like not having to cook over an open fire. I like having lights in the dark, a cell phone, a car, a washing machine, a table saw. Those are all luxuries and I want more of some of them.

[Shikadi]

Okay, except that in plenty of places being homeless is illegal, mud huts on property you don't own is illegal, you can expect your lifespan to be cut down by more than half, and the level of income inequality in the US is staggering. 95% of households make under $200k, while 3 million people make millions of dollars and do whatever they can to make sure nobody catches up to them. Even if you take poor people out of the mix, it's still a problem.

[shaggerty]

They had telegraph systems.