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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the eat-the-rich dept.

Donald Trump and Angela Merkel will join 2,500 world leaders, business executives and charity bosses at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland which kicks off on 23 January. High on the agenda once again will be the topic of inequality, and how to reduce the widening gap between the rich and the rest around the world.

The WEF recently warned that the global economy is at risk of another crisis, and that automation and digitalisation are likely to suppress employment and wages for most while boosting wealth at the very top.

But what ideas should the great and good gathered in the Swiss Alps be putting into action? We'd like to know what single step you think governments should prioritise in order to best address the problem of rising inequality. Below we've outlined seven proposals that are most often championed as necessary to tackle the issue – but which of them is most important to you?

  • Provide free and high quality education
  • Raise the minimum wage
  • Raise taxes on the rich
  • Fight corruption
  • Provide more social protection for the poor
  • Stop the influence of the rich on politicians
  • Provide jobs for the unemployed

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/19/project-davos-whats-the-single-best-way-to-close-the-worlds-wealth-gap

Do you think these ideas are enough, or are there any better ideas to close this wealth gap ? You too can participate and vote for the idea that, you think, works best.


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  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:26PM (10 children)

    by Whoever (4524) on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:26PM (#625707) Journal

    My bet is that if schools were more pervasively to come up with non-dysfunctional work environments and incentives to hire and keep good teachers, then some of those ex-teachers would come back.

    Like perhaps reasonable pay?

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:51PM (9 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @05:51PM (#625724) Journal
    The US already spends massive amounts per student. The pay should already be reasonable.
    • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday January 21 2018, @06:29PM

      by Whoever (4524) on Sunday January 21 2018, @06:29PM (#625733) Journal

      "should" is not "is".

      It's another case where distribution needs to be fixed.

      In a school district near me, the Superintendent got a pay rise this year, but the teachers? No money for that.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:01PM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @08:01PM (#625765)

      Ah yes, the typical khallow disconnect from reality where opinions can be carried to term without the slightest hint of factual support.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:54PM (6 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:54PM (#625825) Journal
        Look at Chart PF1.2.B [oecd.org] please. That's a chart of expenditures per student (elementary through tertiary) by OECD country. The US is third place on that list. Even if we drop tertiary education (which is relatively high), we still end up with the US placing well. Yet where is the outcome to go with that spending?
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:59PM (5 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:59PM (#625831)

          Again, you have no clue about reality. You are looking at a chart and making a LOT of assumptions. The actual teachers are the ones not getting decent pay, being overworked and understaffed. I'm sure quite a bit of money could be more efficiently used instead of squandered on superintendent salaries and redundant textbook purchases. That however is a different conversation precluded by your ASSUMPTIONS which make the conversation impossible.

          You and your ilk have a long way to go learning about actual reality before we can have much of a productive conversation.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:41PM (4 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 21 2018, @11:41PM (#625874) Journal

            You are looking at a chart and making a LOT of assumptions. The actual teachers are the ones not getting decent pay, being overworked and understaffed.

            In other words, I'm using data and you're just pulling stuff out of your ass. I grant that there may be problems with the data or how I'm interpreting it. But merely asserting that there are problems without supporting the claim in any way is not something I take serious.

            • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday January 22 2018, @02:10AM (3 children)

              by Mykl (1112) on Monday January 22 2018, @02:10AM (#625917)

              Perhaps it would be helpful to point out that the US has some of the widest wealth disparity in the developed world. This extends through most business in the US (how much do you think the average Amazon worker is paid?).

              This trend can reasonably be expected to continue through the education system, with the majority of funding ending up at the executive level, and only scraps remaining for the teachers at the bottom.

              Explain to me how this little piece of school funding distribution [businessinsider.com] improves academic results?

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday January 22 2018, @05:48AM (2 children)

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 22 2018, @05:48AM (#625958) Journal

                Perhaps it would be helpful to point out that the US has some of the widest wealth disparity in the developed world. This extends through most business in the US (how much do you think the average Amazon worker is paid?).

                While that is in part true, US teachers do get paid well over normal wages (for example, glancing at Bureau of Labor Statistics data by state confirmed that both California and Texas teachers were paid on average well above average wages for the state).

                This trend can reasonably be expected to continue through the education system, with the majority of funding ending up at the executive level, and only scraps remaining for the teachers at the bottom.

                Meh, I don't buy that as a whole though I believe there are examples of such disparity. Government is not the business world.

                Explain to me how this little piece of school funding distribution [businessinsider.com] improves academic results?

                First, it's coaches not teachers. Their job is not to teach, but to entertain. Second, we're ignoring the vast revenue generation that takes place in these sports venues. For example, the top person on that list, Nick Saban made $7.1 million in 2015 (had to check the original source for that information). The next year, he made [forbes.com] $7.9 million and generated a profit for the University of Alabama of $46 million which buys a lot of education staff and resources. That's the academic results he delivers.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @08:13PM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 23 2018, @08:13PM (#626727)

                  Ah yes, education as an entertainment industry. I'm so glad our societal priorities are in good hands!! /sarcasm /barf /stupid

                  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 24 2018, @05:21PM

                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 24 2018, @05:21PM (#627235) Journal

                    Ah yes, education as an entertainment industry.

                    So nothing to say about how much non-entertainment education one can buy with $46 million?