… but some are more unequal than others.
‘You’ve never had it so good’ to quote a long dead English Prime Minister. OK we all know that the good old days were ‘the good old days’ but saying that brings nothing to the argument of how do we get out of where we are now.
The system of beliefs of our quiet past has no relevance to our stormy present. Our ‘now’ is piled high with unknown difficulties and therefore we need to think and act in a new way. We cannot afford to be like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car; we have to stop being mesmerised and DO rather than chatter about it or complain that it’s ‘someone else’s job, not mine’.
The wage gap between the poorest section of a population and the wealthiest has been growing constantly despite governmental pressure to redistribute wealth. Let me quote you some figures. In traditionally egalitarian societies the gaps has grown to 6:1 (Germany, Denmark and Sweden); in other European nations and some Asian ones it is even higher at 10:1 (Italy, Korea, and Japan) and in the UK it is now a staggering 12:1. But Israel , Turkey and the USA
- Provide easily accessible and high quality public services (health, education and family care)
- Reform tax and benefit systems and create well-developed income-support schemes
- Invest in human capital from childhood through to lifelong learning
- Create more and better quality jobs that ensure a real chance of people escaping the poverty trap
- A more efficient taxation system so that the rich do pay their appropriate share by closing “legal loopholes” in the taxation system
These are not beyond the capabilities of humankind; in fact if I was writing a political manifesto (God forbid) these are the words I would use to get people to vote for me. So if your local politician has promised these things – MAKE SURE HE DELIVERS, OR THROW HIM OUT.
Until next time (and still seeking equality),
Peripatetic Scribe
A very thoughtful piece, P.S. A comment on your last statement: here in NZ we DO have a process for "throwing out the bums" as a result of a citizens petition. As you can imagine it is VERY unpopular with the political people. Ha ha.
ReplyDeleteHi, Anonymous. I wish all countries with similar political systems would do the same. If the man isn't doing his job and representing the people (but just his own interests) then there must be a mechanism to first warn him of his behaviour and then to take action. Excellent. P.S.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. Nevertheless, we are all currently witnessing a severe crisis where people seem to have lost hope and have consequently given up trying to implement the existent mechanisms. Addressing the current apathy seems an extremely arduous task, yet we "the shrinking thinking" people must currently try harder than ever. The clock is ticking as we all know.
ReplyDeleteLucana
Thanks, Lucana. Yes we do live in difficult times and it is sure that many have given up hope or just cannot be bothered but my view is that, as you say, it is the responsibility of the remaining "thinkers" to actually DO something. After all it's easier to destroy than build - but I want to be part of the building project!
ReplyDelete