There is a growing Wealth Gap in the world, including in Canada. Almost all new wealth gets pulled away from employees and ends up in hedge funds and vaults – away from things the public needs (education, health and infrastructure, and jobs).
What is amazing and unfortunate is that so many people underestimate how bad the Wealth Gap has gotten, and continue to think things will get better without their help and without changes to economic, political and social practices.
Here is an excellent video from the Broadbent Institute, showing how out of touch Canadians are with how bad the Wealth Gap is: http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/wealthgap
Problems: #ExtremeGreed #UnassignedTaxation #BelievingTheTrickleDownTheory
#HedgeFundsReduceNewEmployment #WealthFocusedPolitics
Solutions: #ParticipateMoreInCommunity #EncourageBetterDecisionMaking #BeAnAdvocateForChange
When will the escalating wealth of the top 0.1% stop being ignored by politicians and become understood as the main cause of our world’s economic problems?
Just look at the green part of the graph: the super-rich are gulping down almost all new wealth.
#ExtremeGreed is rampant and damaging the lives of hard-working people everywhere. Corporations and the ultra-rich are hoarding money instead of paying people well and creating new work opportunities.
There needs to be politicians and business leaders making real efforts to correct this abuse of our economic systems, and making decisions that improve the quality of life for people everywhere. And there needs to be awareness, in everyone, that this is a real and present danger that will affect both current and upcoming generations.
Click here to read the full article on BillMoyers.com.
There is so much money in our world – far more than there has ever been. And people are more productive than ever, generating more wealth, but not for themselves. Almost all new wealth goes to those already rich, who sit on that money rather than creating new businesses or jobs.
When will people stop believing disproved economic assumptions and get some politicians on their side?
There are 4 falsehoods that keep the rich from sharing prosperity with us. These false assumptions are repeated by certain media, politicians and corporations, despite the statements being proved wrong. Thanks to Robert Reich and Bill Moyers for this information, and for their commitment to fighting #extremegreed.
1) The rich and CEOs are the job creators. False. => It’s actually the middle class.
2) People are paid what they’re worth in the market. False. => CEOs get ridiculously high pay, and workers are more productive than ever. It’s just that the corporations take those new profits for themselves.
3) If you are poor then you are lazy or stupid. False. => People used to be able to work hard and get ahead, but now there is very little economic mobility. So if you are born to a poor family you will likely end up being poor. This is a hard one for middle class people to get their heads around, since they are far more advantaged than most people struggling with poverty.
4) Increasing the minimum wage will result in fewer jobs. False. => Henry Ford understood way back when that if you pay people well then they can afford to buy things, which builds business opportunities and creates jobs.
Here’s to more people understanding these economic falsehoods, and to finding politicians and business leaders who understand that regular folks need a fair share of the prosperity they are generating.
Without public funding, research and development most of today’s technologies and businesses would not be possible.
Public spending routinely bears the risk and major expense, with businesses swooping in late in the game to make the profits and not repay the public debt. An example is Apple’s iPhone, which benefited immensely from publicly funded development of the Internet, GPS, voice recognition and touch screen technology. It is only after these tools were in place that companies such as Apple and Facebook were able to piggyback their ideas into success, without any reciprocal contributing to public taxes or infrastructure.
Similarly, venture capitalists rarely enter into a technology area where the risks are high, leaving the governments to foot the bill. This happens even as business pundits insist that it is business who is innovating and taking the risks.
In her book, The Entrepreneurial State, Innovations Professor Mariana Mazzucato shows how we need a new, symbiotic model for government-business development and shared prosperity, rather than the parasitic model used with today’s #extremegreed version of capitalism.
Here’s a review of the book, along with an excellent response by the author: http://www.economist.com/news/business/21584307-new-book-points-out-big-role-governments-play-creating-innovative-businesses
Says Mariana Mazzucato: “The issue is that the funds are coming from the taxpayer. Given that many of the companies that benefit from such funding pay back very little tax, and many of the jobs generated go global, thinking less naively about the risk-return nexus will make the innovation cycle more sustainable.” [and provide prosperity for more than just that company.]
Nick Hanauer is ultra-rich, yet he speaks out against the #extremegreed that has taken hold of our economy.
He sees the terrible inequality and strife in our society, and isn’t shy to say: “No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out.”
Despite his use of the word pitchforks, Nick Hanauer is urging fairness, and an understanding that without a prosperous middle class there can not be sustainable success for anyone, even those already rich.
Here is his article, titled: Ultra-rich man’s letter: “To My Fellow Filthy Rich Americans: The Pitchforks Are Coming”
It’s time for a new use of the word “good” – not meaning bad, but rather the opposite of selfish and greedy. Think of good as being generous and compassionate. So even better than a prosperous country is a “good” country.
In this uplifting talk, Simon Anholt shares his research, and encourages us to pay attention to the world around us, and to ask: “Is this what a good politician/company/country would do?” And if the politician, company or country is not being “good”, then to voice your concern. Here’s the TED talk: Website link
Here is the website showing how “good” the various countries of the world are: http://goodcountry.org
Not paying taxes is part of the wealthy’s disconnect from society. They don’t feel their wealth is rooted in existing infrastructure, history, shared efforts or shared responsibility for others, so why share the wealth or pay taxes? It is a “super man”/conqueror mentality that politicians (so far) seem to buy into.
When a country has a strong and prosperous middle class, that country’s economy can be strong and growing. This is the opposite of what we’ve got these days, where new wealth rarely touches the hands of regular folks, but instead gets added to the mountains of underused money at the top. This winner-take-all economy punishes the middle class, and though harder to see, also punishes companies trying to employ and market to the middle class.
A hundred years ago, Henry Ford started paying his workers better, based on one simple truth:
When regular folks have more money they can buy more things. And that is what creates jobs and prosperity.
The new tag line for this kind of economy is Middle Out Economics. (Another article on Middle Out Economics)
There is a growing understanding that this change is due, and is coming. Life and prosperity has always been about people working together and building on our combined successes and strengths. Every wealthy person owes much of their success to the underpinnings and contributions of our society – often behind the scenes and currently under-appreciated.
In their book, The Gardens of Democracy, Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu show how Middle Out Economics has always been the way for widespread prosperity.
Here’s to a new start on an old idea: treating people well and paying people well.
Wealthy people matter – just not more than anyone else. Let’s find ways that respect people, and bring dignity and fairness to our lives and our economy.
Every day there are new voices calling for better ways for our economy to operate. The winner-take-all mindset and laws have seen fear replace hope in many people’s lives, and poverty replace prosperity.
In their book, The Gardens of Democracy, authors Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu present a compelling and clear-headed plan for our economy.
Hanauer and Liu view a new democracy not as an-feeling, antisocial machine, but as a garden: tended and existing within a healthy, people-focused ecosystem.
They base their vision on ideas that speak truth for people, but run counter to the punishing version of capitalism we currently have:
True self interest is mutual interest. Society is an ecosystem that is healthiest when we take care of the whole.
How we behave affects others. Living as positive members of society and the economy encourages others.
The economy is not an efficient machine, as we’re often told. Instead, it can be seen as an effective garden that need tending and participation.
Government should be about the big what and the little how: establishing a people-centric framework and then letting the people find the solutions for how to make it happen.
Freedom is about responsibility, not a greed-rich libertarianism. When there is an active cooperation by the whole society good things happen for more people.
The Gardens of Democracy is an optimistic, provocative, and timely call for each of us to improve our role as citizens in a democratic society, and to speak out in favour of positive, people-focused changes to our economy.
