Comment by zqna

Very simple. Being poorer than neighbours makes you angry. Then you vote for those who can bring misery to everyone so when everyone is screwed you will be fine again. Of course there are natural reasons for being poorer than neighbours - brain drain, geopolitical and economical changes. No government can help for some people, as those are unable to accept help, as they will sabotage any effort for one reason or another. In a sense it's inevitable, the entropy produces this pockets of isolated misery, which build upon itself, like dark matter does. Eventually the gases need to be released to produce a new equilibrium, sometimes in some sort of big bang