I agree that inequality is not necessarily bad, but object to Hasset’s formulation that if “a society” directed most of the rewards towards the wealthy, that would be bad. “Society” is just an abstraction. In a free society, individual decisions determine who gets how much. American society did not determine that Bill Gates would be very rich; the choices of millions of individuals did.
That is also true in unfree societies where despots take from producers and redistribute the wealth as they see fit. Under Louis XIV, for example, French society did not determine that he and his court would live in splendid palaces while hard-working peasants labored endlessly to pay their taxes.
The late philosopher Robert Nozick, in his 1974 book Anarchy, State, and Utopia explained that the question regarding wealth inequality should be “How did things get this way?” If wealth was acquired through peaceful means, it isn’t morally objectionable that some have more than others.
