While funny, I’m going to point to one flaw in the scientists supposed formula for the creation of a supervillain. So today I’ll take you on a rant adventure through the Gini Coefficient.

First and most importantly, the Gini coefficient is overused, marginally useful horse droppings.

The Gini coefficient was created in 1912 by Corrado Gini (Thanks, wikipedia!) and has since become a favored tool of what Thomas Sowell calls The Anointed. Those who hold in their minds their moral, academic, and social decisions are better than those of the common man and must bear the burden of making the choices for the lowly common man. The Gini coefficient is especially prominent in economics and often cited in wealth redistribution policies.

Sadly for the anointed, inequality is a relative term. Sure, the word itself has been forced onto use to stir up feelings of pity and sadness, “Oh, but if only things were equal,” “Things should be fair.”  But ultimately the term inequality is by it’s very definition relative. However through clever wording over time, inequality has become a social status term associated with the downtrodden, and not simply a word indicating some disparity with direct comparison.

But before I go off on the track of the evils of attempting to ensure equality through government means, I’ll stifle the outpouring of comments I have on the matter and get back to flaws in the Gini coefficient, not the flaws in “equality” politics.

The most common measure of the Gini coefficient is measured in pre-tax income and is not consumption based. A focus on pre-tax income does not factor in the many redistributive policies currently in place. If one family, through laziness or unfortunate circumstances, has a yearly income of $5,000 and a second family holds a yearly income of $40,000 then we would say there is a great measure of inequality. However a true measure of equality should factor in the approximately $300/month(approximate national average) of SNAP benefits (food stamps), Section 8 housing assistance at $300/month, and Medicare/Medicaid benefits of an additional $200/month (and this doesn’t include innumerable other programs from Head Start and college scholarships (not based on being scholarly), to public transportation and favorable loan terms). $5,000 compared to $40,000 is only 1/8th the income. However a consumption-based comparison of $14,600 to $40,000 is slightly better than 1/3rd.

Also there should be a comparison of the goods available for purchase for the “unequal” economic groups represented in the Gini coefficient. If I want to get hammered would like to enjoy a few drinks with friends, I may go out and buy an affordable $6 bottle of Popov vodka, a mid-range Smirnoff at about $18/bottle, or if I was wealthy I could buy Stoli Ultra for $100/bottle. The end goal of drinking is still accomplished. The house parties of the wealthy stocking finer vodka than a college party does not necessarily equate to inequality in a strict dollar-to-dollar mathematical sense as the Gini coefficient would show.

Even a strict dollar-to-dollar comparison showing high levels of inequality is not bad when the wealth of the nation as a whole is great. Inequality is relative. If the poorest individual made $1 million/year in real dollars and the wealthiest was pulling down $10 billion/year there would be an incredible equality gap, but no one would make the claim that the millionaire is hurting due to inequality. (Real dollars. Not nominal dollars. This is not a discussion on wealth creation and the feasibility of a nation of millionaires without rising prices.)

Nearly every American now lives in a home with air conditioning. The Queen of England didn’t even have air conditioning 100 years ago (unless she was an early adopter, then 108 years ago she may have had one of the first functional models, but you get the point). Wealth has steadily grown throughout all history through capital accumulation. Inequality is bound to exist, but that doesn’t mean it is the purpose of government to regulate this inequality.

Supervillains don’t come from the Gini coefficient.

Comic from SMBC