In my view, the moral problem at the root of socialism is actually not envy, as many libertarians contend. I grew up among socialists, and they were by far motivated by honorable concerns: a sense of injustice, grief for the poor, compassion. (I’m not talking here about the more political activists, some of whom do in fact have much baser motives).
The principle flaw in the socialist world view is a too great concern with appearances and an inability to see cause and effect in any complex way. It is not the ‘materialism’ of materialism I object to. It’s the lack of ‘mind’ in the materialism. The reasoning is limited, superficial and inaccurate.
via Bastiat On The Virtues Of Misers | LILA RAJIVA: The Mind-Body Politic.
Well, I suppose it depends who you are talking about. I hear an awful lot of stuff in the general public discourse about “income disparity” in a way that implies that the problem is more how much some people have than how much others don’t have.