We hear a great deal of talk today about the “redistribution of wealth,” particularly in the presidential campaign, but little about its consequences. Now, economists who have studied inequality have begun to draw some startling conclusions.

First, we need some context. According to a study by economists Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley, and Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics, income inequality is now at its highest levels since the Great Depression. The top one percent today earns about one-sixth of all income and the top ten percent about half. From 1983 to 2010, the top five percent accrued nearly three-quarters of the total growth in household wealth. A new study by the Economic Policy Institute concluded that the top one percent now hold a larger share of overall wealth than the bottom ninety percent.

Recent studies have found that the end result of this concentration of wealth at the top of the income scale may mean not only a more unequal society, but also a less stable economic expansion and much slower growth. Inequality in both rich and poor countries strongly correlates with shorter periods of economic expansion leading to less growth over time. This may be exactly what we are currently experiencing in the U.S. as the economy struggles to regain its footing after the recession.

As a former college professor, my students studied the work of the great futurist, Alvin Toffler. Famous for his many writings including Future Shock and The Third Wave, Toffler wrote that there are three sources of power in the world.

Violence is the most basic source, one that has led to physical domination by armies, dictators and terrorists, and to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Wealth, the second source of power, is more flexible than violence as it can be used to purchase goods and services. If you accumulate enough of it, you can buy just about anything you want, including politicians.

The third source of power, knowledge, is the ultimate form of power according to Toffler, since it can be used to acquire both wealth and violence. Most of us are familiar with the phrase, “Knowledge is power.”

But Toffler also warns that those unable to acquire knowledge or wealth would use the only source of power at their disposal, violence, to acquire what they wanted. Through the ages we’ve seen the results of those without access to knowledge or wealth, and we continue to see it today in the Middle East and in the growing unrest in Europe.

It would be wise for the U.S. electorate to consider the possible results of continuing this massive wealth redistribution––and Toffler’s warning––as voters cast their ballots on November 6th.