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
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.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday January 21 2018, @07:56PM (1 child)
Yeah, I think many folks really have no clue how much "sacrifice" is required in salary to be a teacher today. They hear stories about some fancy suburban public schools in New York in rich areas and teachers with salaries that sound decent if not generous. That happens occasionally, but it's not common.
I taught high school for a few years, and for the first couple years I was in a major urban area in the south. To take a teaching job doing science or math, I was looking at a 40%+ pay cut from from what I could have walked into for an engineering or science job straight out of college with a bachelor's degree in the same geographic area.
And no, for those few years I taught, I didn't even get "summers off" or short hours. Most of the good teachers I knew at the schools I worked with were working at least 8-hour days, and frequently 9-10 hour days. In summers, I did a certification program one year, and in other years I was required to do continuing education hours that took up several weeks, not to mention planning for the following year. It might be possible to get a part-time summer job around those sorts of constraints, but not one that would likely pay very well.
Even for humanities folks, teaching jobs are often a chore for not-too-great pay comparatively. For science or math folks, they could often easily earn double in the "real world" and often a lot more if they are a competent person once they have a little experience. I chose to take a few years when I was younger to devote to this stuff because I was concerned about the horrific teacher shortages I heard about... but then I realized it wasn't really sustainable for me, both economically and psychologically in terms of the stress and amount of work. I toy with the idea of going back to it some day, because I really feel like it's one of the most important things we need in society. But it's hard to make that commitment.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 21 2018, @09:27PM
My mother used to do phone-sales in the summers, cold calling lists of numbers (often lists of educators), to try to sell... whatever. No, it didn't pay well, no she didn't enjoy it, but being a two teacher income household, we needed the money. Remember, in those days cold calling meant inputting 7 digits into a rotary dial... not fun, even before the awkward sales pitch.
🌻🌻 [google.com]