Income inequality in the world is best explained by technological progress

This is a simple fact that most people fail to grasp. Indeed many people look with horror on statistics showing that income inequality in the world is rising. Even newspapers like the Economist have written long articles about rising income inequality, and what to do about it.

The answer is: Do nothing. Income inequality is natural, and it only distracts people from a much more important fact: That everyone is better off now than they were in the past! Yes, the difference between poor and rich is rising, but this is because technological advances are empowering the rich far faster than the poor, simply because technology requires resources. And poor people don't have many resources, by definition.

The IMF's Global Outlook from 2007 has a chapter called 'Globalization and inequality' which explains this perfectly well:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/02/pdf/c4.pdf

Here's a quick video briefing of the paper: http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=78910271001

All we have to do to make people in poor parts of the world better off, is to trade with them, invest in them,  and share our technology with them. All these things can be done to mutual benefit, which is the cornerstone of economic progress. Unfortunately western countries have a tendency to do the opposite. We impose high tariffs and other trade restrictions on imports from other countries, and we even subsidize companies in the west that compete with companies in the poor / developing world. One of the most spectacular examples of this is the Common Agricultural Subsidy in the EU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy

According to Wikipedia it represented 48% of the EU's budget in 2006, or EUR 49.8 bn.

It is hard to think of a better way to hurt poor countries except maybe direct use of military force. Poor countries tend to have a large proportion of their population working in agriculture. And precisely these people are hurt the most by agricultural subsidies in the west.

At the same time we "help" the same countries by sending them financial aid, which is also paid for by the tax-payers. Of course. So we create our own problems, and then try to solve them in the dumbest possible way. The hipocrisy in this is mind-blowing.