The gap between rich and poor

Question Time this evening has yet again been a polarised affair. Polarised, that is between people talking rubbish (Shirley Williams, Geoff Hoon and George Galloway) and people talking sense (Sayeeda Warsi and, especially, Clive James). 

There has been plenty of nonsense talked over the past few months, but the basic wrongness of some of what has been said this evening, needs to be refuted. I particular, I'm amazed that people are still fooled by wailing about "the gap between rich and poor". 

Shirley Williams sat there this evening complaining that bankers make lots of money. Much more money than people who aren't bankers. Some people make only a hundredth of that bankers make. Boo hoo. This is a very old argument, and it's wrong. Just because the gap is bigger doesn't mean that people are worse off. It just means that the richest people have got richer faster, which is only a bad thing if you suffer from Shirley Williams / George Galloway style envy. The poorest people in the country, and in the world in general are hugely better off than they used to be: they're living longer too, which gives the population alarmists a reason to twist their knickers yet further. 

The gap between rich and poor is not a problem. It's part of wealth creation - it's not pretty, but it exists. And Shirley Williams really ought to have got over it by now.