Quote Originally Posted by Aquagraph View Post
"Research has shown an inverse link between income inequality and social cohesion. In more equal societies, people are much more likely to trust each other, measures of social capital (the benefits of goodwill, fellowship, mutual sympathy and social connectedness among groups who make up a social units) suggest greater community involvement, and homicide rates are consistently lower." -Wikipedia
]
But no clear evidence on the direction of causation exists, unfortunately. (I'm not a fan of econometrics, but this is one of the few cases where it could really go both ways)

It's misguided philanthropy, particularly for the political classes. Every country, regardless of politics enjoys a universal 90/10% wealth split.
A standard pareto distribution would be more on the line of 80-20, but yes, that's the gist of it.