Just curious, but do these people agree and say explicitly they want exactly equal, or is that what the goal seems to be based on metrics that solely measure outcome?
I don't doubt that such people exist, but I think that metrics which measure outcome don't necessarily implicate literal equality. Outcomes are just the simplest, most accessible way to highlight the (real) problem. But like affirmative action, outcomes as a metric make sense at times of great inequality, and they won't make sense if/when we are nearer to either exact equality or to equality of opportunity.
Right now, we are losing ground with equality, not getting closer to it, and that's why (in my mind) outcomes are an acceptable way to look at it for the time being. I think looking solely at outcomes would become wholly inappropriate if/when equality policy started holding people back from getting any more than someone else regardless of the quality or amount of their efforts.
Some people on the extreme ends of the political spectrum, and some very wealthy people, do try to argue that taxes and other policy are holding them back now, but I don't even want to broach that. Right now we do have a few extremely rich people, and a lot of extremely poor people, and the gap is growing. Until that gap is shrinking and closer to what it used to be, it does make sense to me to use outcome as a metric.
I don't doubt that such people exist, but I think that metrics which measure outcome don't necessarily implicate literal equality. Outcomes are just the simplest, most accessible way to highlight the (real) problem. But like affirmative action, outcomes as a metric make sense at times of great inequality, and they won't make sense if/when we are nearer to either exact equality or to equality of opportunity.
Right now, we are losing ground with equality, not getting closer to it, and that's why (in my mind) outcomes are an acceptable way to look at it for the time being. I think looking solely at outcomes would become wholly inappropriate if/when equality policy started holding people back from getting any more than someone else regardless of the quality or amount of their efforts.
Some people on the extreme ends of the political spectrum, and some very wealthy people, do try to argue that taxes and other policy are holding them back now, but I don't even want to broach that. Right now we do have a few extremely rich people, and a lot of extremely poor people, and the gap is growing. Until that gap is shrinking and closer to what it used to be, it does make sense to me to use outcome as a metric.