Don’t like income inequality? Walter Williams says, ‘Blame consumers’

Walter Williams‘ latest column delves into little-appreciated facts surrounding income inequality in the United States:

How did [J.K.] Rowling become so wealthy and unequal to the rest of us? The entire blame for this social injustice lies at the feet of the world’s children and their enabling parents.

Rowling’s wealth is a direct result of more than 500 million Harry Potter book sales and movie receipts grossing more than $5 billion. In other words, the millions of “99-percenters” who individually plunk down $8 or $9 to attend a Harry Potter movie, $15 to buy a Harry Potter novel or $30 to buy a Harry Potter Blu-ray Disc are directly responsible for contributing to income inequality and wealth concentration that economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says “is incompatible with real democracy.”

In other words, Rowling is not responsible for income inequality; it’s the people who purchase her works.

We just can’t blame the children for the unfairness of income inequality. Look at how WalMart Stores generated wealth for the Walton family of Christy ($25 billion), Jim ($21 billion), Alice ($21 billion) and Robson ($21 billion).

The Walton family’s wealth is not a result of ill-gotten gains, but the result of WalMart’s revenue, $422 billion in 2010. The blame for this unjust concentration of wealth rests with those hundreds of millions of shoppers worldwide who voluntarily enter WalMart premises and leave dollars, pounds and pesos.

Basketball great LeBron James plays forward for the Miami Heat and earns $43 million for doing so. That puts him with those 1-percenters denounced by Wall Street occupiers.

But who made LeBron a 1-percenter? It’s those children again, enabled by their fathers or some other significant male. Instead of children doing their homework and their fathers helping their wives with housework, they get into their cars, drive to a downtown arena and voluntarily plunk down $100 for tickets.

The millions of people who watch LeBron play are the direct cause of LeBron’s earning $43 million and are thereby, responsible for “undermining the foundations of our democracy.”