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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: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday January 23 2018, @12:05AM
"A fool and his money are soon parted", but America labors especially hard to trick and trap people into losing their money. One factor that encourages reckless spending is the sense that rapacious forces will take whatever money you didn't spend fast enough.
Like, all those fees with which banks ding their customers, predatory law enforcement of which Civil Asset Forfeiture is its purest form, and if you thought a 20% to 30% annual interest rate that many credit cards levy was exorbitant, how about the 10x worse rates which payday loan sharks and pawn shops charge? That's right, I've seen 240% annual interest charged on the money received for pawning an item, and hear of other jurisdictions that have 300% or even higher rates. There's the insane medical pricing system prevalent in the US, ready and waiting to clean out your savings should you be so unfortunate as to suffer an injury that requires medical care. Insurers are so bad that often the claims department is cynically called the claims prevention department, and the only option to get them to pay a perfectly legit claim is to sue. Most of the time the threat of a lawsuit is enough, but not always. Naturally, the lawyers love that. Debt collectors are unscrupulous scum who don't give a crap whether a debt is legit, and will keep harassing as long as they can. Speaking of debt, the whole idea of student loans has perverted higher education into a means of extracting wealth from the age bracket who has the least, for the simple crime of being too young. Then there are employers who cheat their workers of pay, press them to work off the clock, or drag their feet and slide further and further behind in paying their employees on time and then go bankrupt when they owe everyone more than a month of pay. The Intellectual Property rent seeking thieves cheekily call all of us thieves as part of their audacious propaganda campaign that for decades now has been trying to equate copying with stealing, and way too many people fall for it. And certainly not least, let's not forget Too Big To Fail financial businesses.
Marketing is adept at selling people products that they would be better off without, drumming up fake needs for which a useless product happens to be the answer. The worst are the ones that play upon our instincts, such as lawn care. I keep hoping this fad that decrees women must shave off all their body hair would just die. It's costly and unhealthy. Sugary drinks are another-- we are hardwired to crave sugar. We also have way too much artificial lighting. Baby toys are yet another. Babies will very happily play with empty milk jugs and cardboard boxes, no need to blow a fortune on stupid scam toys that dangle the hope that they might be able to turn your child into the next Einstein. You might think that's too bad, and it should be "buyer beware", but the deception is many layers deep and few penetrate all the way.