Wealth is Relative

[hmkpoker]

Humans in a free market create their own equality.

Go out for a drive and take a look at the neighborhoods. You'll notice that the wealthy tend to group together in wealthy neighborhoods and the poor in poor neighborhoods. If you observe how people make friends, you'll see that people tend to hang out with other members of similar incomes, and they tend to work with people of similar incomes (well, I guess that's obvious).

These psychological needs for equality and belonging (which most certainly exist) do not require macroeconomic egalitarianism. They can be satisfied by picking the right group of people to surround yourself with.

Besides, income equality does not guarantee a lack of competition. People will still strive to improve themselves along whatever proxies are most important. I think the most competitive environment I've ever been in was high school. Income didn't matter much because no one had any expenses, but there was a very rigid hierarchy centered around physical appearance. College was similar, except it was something of an academic meritocracy.