I was on a whistle-stop tour of five Dutch cities last week when I found myself thinking: this is peak humanity. No people anywhere have ever lived better. Most town centres were gorgeous, having avoided any destruction for centuries. Cyclists puttered past café terraces. The only hassle was torn-up streets, as perfectly good infrastructure was being renovated. The knee-jerk retort would be that I was watching out-of-touch elitists party while ordinary people sink. In fact, the historically egalitarian Netherlands has become still more equal in income distribution since the 1990s. Nor is the typical Dutch person uniquely blessed. Even in the extremely unequal US, median household income is a respectable $59,039.
前不久，我簡短地遊覽了荷蘭的五個城市，其間我不由得這樣想：我眼前的景象是人類發展的巔峯。世界任何地方的人都未曾有過更美好的生活。大部分城鎮中心都引人入勝，這些地方几百年來未遭破壞。悠閒的人們騎著自行車經過露天咖啡座。唯一的麻煩就是路面被挖開，因爲市政當局要改造本來沒什麼問題的基礎設施。對此，有人會下意識地反駁稱，我看到的是不接地氣的精英階層在享受，其實普通人的生活每況愈下。事實上，自20世紀90年代以來，歷來注重平等的荷蘭在收入分配上變得更加均等。而典型的荷蘭人並沒有受到特別的眷顧。即使在極不平等的美國，家庭收入的中值也有相當不錯的59039美元。