Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity

by Scott Galloway

The greater our differences economically, the more we come to believe we are different in more fundamental ways. Altruistic behavior decreases in times of greater income inequality. The rich are more generous in times of lesser inequality and less generous when inequality grows more extreme. Michael Lewis writes, “The problem is caused by the inequality itself: it triggers a chemical reaction in the privileged few. It tilts their brains. It causes them to be less likely to care about anyone but themselves or to experience the moral sentiments needed to be a decent citizen.”28 Privilege looks in the mirror and sees nobility. Financially successful people come to believe that someone who is delivering groceries at $14 an hour or cleaning the subway car deserves their economic fate. They’re not as smart, they’re not as good, they’re not as worthy as the rest of us. Worse, those not blessed by circumstance and luck hear the message loud and clear. Lack of economic success is their fault. This is the land of opportunity, where anyone can make it big, right? So what does that say about those who don’t? When we put the 0.1% on a pedestal, we crowd out teachers, social workers, bus drivers, and farmworkers from the respect that is due to them. We tell them they are less, that they have failed. That any economic disadvantages they face are their fault, their birthright even. That’s not capitalism, that’s a caste system—and the inevitable result of cronyism, which requires these myt...