By "laws of economics," I don't mean economic theories of redistribution or local adjustments or a quest for "economic justice" or the morality of taxes or "sharing the wealth." It isn't a question of "whose" economics.

Its the fundamental mathematics that makes such considerations worth thinking about at all. If we could all multiply loaves and fishes at will, there'd be a lot less hunger and poverty. If we could turn forty bucks into four thousand by investing it at 3% for a year, ditto.

But we can't. Mathematics (and other, somewhat less primal reality factors) won't let us. The real world is different.

But the math has been built in from the start. Overall, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. If the social system collapses, for whatever reason, the pattern just begins again. In general and over time, the post-apocalyptic crowd with more resources will increase their resources far faster than those with few.