Where to start with the “Spirit Level Democracy”? How about, I’m proud of it and I will start following them on Twitter shortly at @SpiritLevelDoc. We’ve all been shocked by the impact of inequality.
I am reminded of Prahalad’s “Bottom of the Pyramid” when I watch this video. In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the 2.5 billion people who live on less than US$2.50 per day. This field is also often referred to as the “Base of the Pyramid” or just the “BoP”.
Several books and journal articles have been written about this, but the issue of inequality is also extremely potent, as a superrich protecting their shareholder dividend see workers as a nuisance but an evil necessity in generating profit – that’s why many would just like to offer them no worker protection, and brainwash them into thinking that Unions are an irrelevance. This is a superb video, which I recommend you to watch.
The video mentions, “The bigger the income differences, the gap between rich and poor, the worse the social differences. Inequality matters. We’ve all been astonished about the impact of inequality.” At Ed Miliband’s last ever hustings in his bid to become Leader of the Labour Party, which I attended and supported, I shook Ed’s hand. While this photo was taken, I said to Ed, “You do realise that Tony Blair’s “The Journey” doesn’t even have the word ‘inequality’ in the index?”. Ed smiled for the pic, and simply said, “You – are – joking!!”
I know that Ed does genuinely care about this. The video cites, “I do believe that this country is too unequal, and the gap between the rich and poor, it harms us all, and it’s something that Governments must tackle” @Ed_Miliband.
The Gini coefficient (also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio) is a measure of statistical dispersion invented by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, and published for the first time in 1912. The Gini coefficient can measure the inequality among values of a frequency distribution (for example levels of income). A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality where all values are the same (for example, where everyone has an exactly equal income). A Gini coefficient of one (100 on the percentile scale) expresses maximal inequality among values (for example where only one person has all the income). The “Gini coefficient” has got steadily worse, since Margaret Thatcher came to power, but depressingly even during Tony Blair’s government. Here is a graph of that coefficient against time, sourced from this website.
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“The gap between rich and poor is at its highest level for 30 years. Over the last year there have been protests from Cairo to New York to London – now it’s time for action, and a documentary is the most powerful way we can raise awareness and mobilise people. It has been published in over 20 countries, has sold over 100,000 copies in the UK and won first prize in the Bristol Festival of Ideas. Lynsey Hanley in the Guardian said, It’s impossible to overstate the implications of (this) thesis”, The Economist stated “It is a sweeping claim, yet the evidence, here painstakingly marshalled, is hard to dispute”. The New Statesman listed it as one of their top ten books of the decade. It’s impact has been so great that it has provoked numerous attacks from organisations that support low taxes for the rich such as the Taxpayers’ Alliance (“we oppose all tax rises”) and Policy Exchange (“the most influential think tank on the right”)”
The Labour Party in the UK is supposed to represent the hopes and life of workers. Gordon Brown and Tony Blair bent over backwards to woo the top 5% earners and the City and generally, and frankly the top 5% don’t give a toss about Labour. They are more than satisfied with their tax cut, given at a time of austerity when the disabled and poor are being disproportionately punished. I hope that Ed can genuinely stop this horrifically contemptible recent record of my party.
