What is going to happen as financial inequality just gets bigger and bigger?

[FishTankSally]

I can't really wrap my head around it. Things seem to be accelerating in terms of getting worse, both in individual countries like the UK or USA, and then on a global level with climate change.

What is the future going to look like, at local level and on a bigger world scale?

If we are in late capitalism now, how long will things trundle along before getting worse?

Anyone else wonder about this?

It’s a good question. I suspect it will coincide with more and more refugees trying to enter the country - including climate change refugees - and some sort of culture war will probably turn into real violence and war. It’s not positive.

@FishTankSally I do think about it and we need to make some changes to help ourselves. I firmly believe in capitalism with controls. Checks and balances.

We are not producing enough in this country to have all we want. So we need to ensure people are able to get good jobs that pay well. This has been illusive for many. However we cannot get workers for some areas of employment and we need to look at ourselves a bit more. No, I’m not Suella Braverman, but we need better employment prospects.

We also have workers saying they don’t earn much when they actually do quite well.

Unless we get a lot of people paying more tax, we will not get all we want from the government. So more well paid work via qualifications and skills is the answer. Tony Blair was right about education. Liz Truss was actually right about productivity. We need it all to feel well off again. (If we ever did?)

I hope it doesn't come to violence and war but if the climate stuff continues along the road it's on, I really don't see how it will be avoided?

Everyone will be fighting for resources.

@TizerorFizz Yes capitalism does need checks and balances, how could appropriate ones be put in place at this point I wonder?

I feel I don't know enough at all about GDP and productivity and how each country is impacted in a global economy.

Well the last time inequality peaked in Europe it was prior to the French Revolution. So history would suggest we might predict considerable social unrest. There's a great book called the Lexus and the Olive tree (written a while ago now) which mostly extolled the virtues of globalisation but also warned against excess and impacts on nation states.
Personally I'm think it will be a bumpy ride...

Tricky to put in checks and balances when we've had such wide spread corporate capture of the state. The question of who is the country run for and by whom is an interesting one. An awful lot of policy rent seem to benefit the majority of the population....

I also foresee war unfortunately. Too many people will have nothing to lose.

Don’t worry. Labour are on the way in and will clobber all of us higher and top rate taxpayers.

Better days for the work shy ahead.

I'd say significant social and civil unrest followed by the rise of the AI machines that will then finish us all off!

I'm not sure op.

Look at the luxury Henry v111 had.

Now he would almost seem a beggar. No proper loo, no proper heating etc or sanitation, access to medicine.
. Even the worst people in UK are better off by historic standard.
I'd rather be poor now than in 1900 and sent to the work house.

I was thinking along these lines too

Because standard rare taxpayers don't work hard? ODFOD.

rate

Mass exodus

Riots

Starvation

Disease

War

I try to be sympathetic and for those genuinely in need I really am. The people I'm not sympathetic to are those who stay in a house share in London to maintain a job they can get in any county in the UK and then plead poverty.

But history dictates we go through plague, economic uncertainty, war, civil unrest, political change. We are coming into the war/civil unrest section at the moment having done the plague and about 2/3 through the economic uncertainty part.

@FishTankSally Checks and balances could be increased by government legislation to curb excessive behaviour by some companies. Eg insisting our water and sewage infrastructure is maintained.

However we do have to realise companies employ people here. Large or small. They pay tax here (close tax loopholes!) and they contribute to the wider economy by being here. If we piss off all multinationals and they prefer, say, Ireland (an EU member) we make more people poorer and reduce employment opportunities.

We also have to realise that we have huge numbers of people whose pensions are invested in such companies. We do need them to make profits. Although people do
not seem to realise it, the shareholders are often pension funds. We need successful companies.

We do not have great productivity here. Largely because we have a lot run by the state with vast numbers employed by it. It does help that the NHS allows people to work more efficiently by curing them if they are ill, but no other competitive country has this model of health care.

We now have a tax regime similar to 1978. When, to be honest, we were an economic basket case. The higher rate of tax threshold should be £100,000, not £50,000. This has dragged non high earning ordinary people into paying higher tax. It leads to a brain drain but even so, our higher tax take is more than our gross lower income tax take. So I’m not so sure people are all poor, but they are over-taxed. Therefore better productivity and higher corporate tax payments would help individuals keep more of their earned money to spend or save.

If we don’t keep companies here, keep people productive and earning well, where does the money for state expenditure come from? Even higher taxes for those who stay? If we want to compete, we are need to be an attractive nation to invest in. Not one that taxes highly. Brexit has not helped of course.,

The Bank of England web site explains GDP.

I think the usual protesting types will
protest. Most people will carry on making ends meet. Labour still has to win a lot of seats. They might do it but they won’t be able to change much overnight.

I think we are in for a bumpy ride.

I think MN is great for some things, but anything that involves economics, and you will likely not get many replies.
At times and threads like this, I always wish there were many more men on here.
Yes, I know some women are high ups in finance, but either they choose not to comment, or wome in general do not know, it seems to me.

I hope/pray that digital currency and social id does not come in.

In the UK, we need to invest in those mechanisms which reduce inequality. ie education, health, social protection. For those saying we can't afford to; it is much MUCH more expensive to deal with the impact of not investing in them - crime, inefficiency, lack of productivity, ill health etc. Prevention is the key.

We also need to put in place stronger accountability mechanisms for fiscal corruption and tax avoidance/evasion. This applies not only to our own governance and anti-corruption measures but also strengthening those where we as a country profit and contribute to inequality overseas. Illicit financial flows, money laundering, tax registry etc. Cancelling debt, allowing countries to invest in health and education. Climate resilience education is critical.

We in the UK directly contribute to many of the causes of global inequality and it never fails to astonish me how people do not make a link between this and the rise in refugees.

If you want better public services you have to pay for them. People want a higher NMW and the result of that is higher cost of living.

You can't have it all ways

@Changethatnameagain2 I do not particularly want the same model of public services. I think people who can afford to, should pay health insurance. As in most of the EU.

Hunger games

I was not arguing for better public services. The status quo is the best we can hope for. Many people do seem to think they are a right though and someone else will pay. The someone else is other hard pressed tax payers and industry/commerce. They also provide jobs. Just listen today about possible huge job losses in the car industry due to Brexit. How is anyone even thinking about improving services with job losses looming and companies pulling out? And they are! Brexit is causing a nightmare and we are just beginning to see it!! It will get worse.

in my own local community there has recently been a massive shift. Literally every man and his dog has started or joined a small group project to fix a problem. There are gardening clubs, litter picking clubs, people pooling together for benches on the green, people coming together to sort fly tipping, plane flowers and trees, paint over graffiti, people have set up uniform banks from second hand donations, people have set up food banks and toy banks. LOADS more people on facebook marketplace and other online selling groups. The library is getting used more.

it's not great but after covid Nd now with the cost of living going up people are leaning on eachother more.