Yes, over the centuries economic progress has reduced some gross disparities - modern Americans are relatively unlikely to simply starve to death (though it can happen), so in that sense the gap between rich and poor has narrowed. But the question isn't whether society is, in some sense, more equal than it was in 1900. It's whether it is radically more unequal than it was in 1970. And of course it is.
Paul KrugmanMost work in macroeconomics in the past 30 years has been useless at best and harmful at worst.
Paul KrugmanEvery once in a while I feel despair over the fate of the planet. If youโve been following climate science, you know what I mean: the sense that weโre hurtling toward catastrophe but nobody wants to hear about it or do anything to avert it.
Paul Krugman