| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re: Not propaganda - just fact! | |
| Posted by: | Kathleen Healy | |
| Date/Time: | 04/05/26 14:00:00 |
| It's a relative not absolute thing. If the relative becomes extremely unequal, as it was in Victorian England or is in South Africa and the Countries that now have extreme wealth and extreme poverty, it produces many negative consequences for everyone, even the wealthy. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better is a book published in 2009. It analysed a number of social ills; physical ill health, mental ill health, crime etc. and found a strong corelation between them and inequality. Countries with lower levels of inequality had populations with lower levels physical and mental ill health, lower crime etc. The level of equality in a country tends not to be static, it is usually moving in one direction or the other. After the war the direction in the UK was, for many years, towards greater equality. This was a boon for the post war generation, many of whom became wealthier than their parents and grand parents. From the late 70's on, the direction has been consistently towards greater inequality and is still heading in that direction. The great, global banking fraud of 2008, followed by austerity, accelerated it, as did Covid. Unless there is change in direction, inequality will continue to grow, with a few people owing more and a large number having less. The level of inequality is a political choice. The greater levels of equality after the war were due to policies that redistributed wealth down, making the post war generation a generally wealthier one. The policies also produced high economic growth that quickly reduced post war national debt. The change in political direction from the late 70s has redistributed wealth upwards, over time creating greater inequality. |