Thanks Tory scum: UK most unequal country in the West

[ttosca]

Huge gap between rich and poor in Britain is the same as Nigeria and worse than Ethiopia, UN report reveals

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Britain is now the most unequal country in the Western world, an authoritative new United Nations report reveals. The gap between rich and poor is as great as in Nigeria.

Detailed statistics in the Human Development Report published last week also demonstrate that inequality has grown sharply during Conservative rule and that the poor in Britain now have to live on much the same incomes as their equivalents in Hungary and Korea.

While growing inequality might once have been a cause for congratulation - Margaret Thatcher called on us to "glory" in it - the consensus among experts in such bodies as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the rich nations' club, and even the World Bank is now moving against.

Lady Thatcher, like Ronald Reagan, believed that if the rich got richer, everybody would benefit. Now many economists believe that inequality hinders growth. In an unpublished paper Michael Bruno, chief economist of the World Bank, says: "Reducing inequality not only benefits the poor immediately but will benefit all through higher growth."

The United Nations Development Programme, which published the Human Development Report, said last week: "The United Kingdom, unfortunately, has an exceptionally high degree of inequality."

The report shows that the poorest 40 per cent of Britons share a lower proportion of the national wealth - 14.6 per cent - than in any other Western country. This is only marginally better than in Russia, the only industrialised nation, east or west, to have a worse record. Measurements of the gap between rich and poor tell a similar story. The richest fifth of Britons enjoy, on average, incomes 10 times as high as the poorest fifth. Britain ties for the worst performance by this yardstick among Western nations with Australia. That country was run for more than a decade by a Labor government which has heavily influenced the policies of Tony Blair.

The gap in Britain and Australia is exactly the same as in Nigeria, much worse than in Jamaica, Ghana or the Ivory Coast and twice as bad as in Sri Lanka or Ethiopia.

The British poor are much better off in absolute terms than the poor in most Third World countries, but they are worse off than those in other Western nations. The poorest fifth of Britons have an average per capita income 32 per cent lower than their equivalents in the US and 44 per cent lower than in the Netherlands.

Comparison with earlier Human Development Reports shows that inequality is growing fast in Britain. The 1991 report ranks Britain around the middle of industrialised countries both for the share of national income that went to the poorest two fifths of the population (17.3 per cent) and for the gap between the richest and the poorest fifth (6.8 times).

Mr Bruno's paper identifies Britain as one of only a handful of countries where inequality is increasingly rapidly. The Human Development Report also highlighted the world's billionaires - observing that the 358 people with assets of more than $1bn were worth more than the combined annual income of 45 per cent of the world's people.

But last week's issue of Forbes Magazine showed that the figures were out of date. There are now 447 billionaires. According to calculations by an American think-tank, their combined wealth is now worth more than the annual incomes of at least half the world's population.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk-most-unequal-country-in-the-west-1329614.html

Should we be sucking more corporate cock? Is that really what we need?

People might take you more seriously Ttosca if you didn't put things like "Tory Scum" in thread titles, not to mention your second post.

"Britain ties for the worst performance by this yardstick among Western nations with Australia. That country was run for more than a decade by a Labor government which has heavily influenced the policies of Tony Blair."

Did you read the article before you cut and pasted posted?

So, is anyone other than Tosca bothered by the extreme inequality in the UK?

Or did no-one notice that 'Britain [is] one of only a handful of countries where inequality is increasingly rapidly'?

Bothered, yes very much.

But as the years in which inequality increased most were the Blair/Brown ones, a thread with this title seems more about bashing/astroturfing than examining issues.

No Ttosca isn't alone in worrying about this. I'm still reeling from the knowledge that so many rely on food banks

The rise in inequality started in the late 70's, with the birth of neo-liberalism.

Neo-liberal economic policies of privatization, deregulation, reduction is spending in public services and social security, attack on unions and workers rights, etc. have continued since then to this day.

So yes, quite, right, 'New Labour' is also at fault for continuing these destructive policies.

So, is anyone other than Tosca bothered by the extreme inequality in the UK?

You're not bothered by extreme inequality? It doesn't strike you as both weird and unjust that the UK, one of the richest nations on earth, has the same level of inequality as developing countries like Nigeria?

Or did no-one notice that 'Britain [is] one of only a handful of countries where inequality is increasingly rapidly'?

Of course it is. Again, it's the dominant economic ideology of neo-liberalism which is causing this huge rise in inequality, along with mass unemployment, job insecurity, etc.

"According to the UN Human Development Report 2013, the UK has become the most unequal nation in the developed world (from 4th in 2012). The gap between rich and poor in UK society has risen sharply during the leadership of the Coalition government and is now equal to Nigeria, with the poorest here living on roughly the same as their counterparts in Hungary and Korea."

scriptonitedaily.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/wealth-inequality-in-uk-now-equal-to-nigeria-un-report/

How can this not bother you? Is this the sort of society you want to live in?

People might take you more seriously Ttosca if you didn't put things like "Tory Scum" in thread titles, not to mention your second post.

Toriess are scum. There is no better word to describe a bunch of over-privileged sociopaths who will stop at nothing to increase the wealth and power of themselves and their chums, no matter how harmful the effects on society or how many people they kill.

I'm bothered about the extreme inequality in this country and feel nothing but fear for the future of my children and what this Government are doing to dismantle the good things we had, all under the title of austerity instead of ideology.

These changes leading to huge inequality would have been made under a Tory Government even if the Global economy hadnt allegedly collapsed.

Thankfully we have an election soon.

You are deluded if you think Labour would do much different. Inequality widened under their rule more than it has done under the Tories current government.

I'm not at all convinced that Labour will win the next election, unless Milliband is going to pull something significant out of his pocket in the next 18 months or so. I think it'll be another coalition.

I'm bothered by the inequality. It's not fair :(

not to mention your second post. (referring to sucking corporate cock)

Well, Tabitha, it seems that for some posters, the answer to every economic problem is more of the same economic policies which have caused so much harm in the first place.

It's bizarre that the UK can be in the situation it is in with respect to the working and living conditions for a great many people and yet some people still want to make life harder for working people by allowing them to fire people at will, further deregulation, attacking unions, etc.

Bringing working conditions back to the 19th Century isn't going to make things any better. Not only is it bad macroeconomic policy, but even if it did help GDP growth and unemployment, the UK would not be a place in which it is worth it to live and work.

I'm trying to get people to understand that we can't keep lowering corporate taxes, deregulating, privatizing, cutting public spending, etc. more and more and then wait and pray for an economic miracle to happen.

It won't happen. Not only will it not happen, but it means society will be worse off because of it. We would live in a less democratic, more unequal, less free, and less happy society.

So what is your answer Ttosca? Let me guess, cut down on tax evasion and increase public spending.

My answer is to stop doing it.

If we are trading pointless insults then Loop Labour, under barmy Blair and gormless Gordon didn't exactly improve things.

Coal mining and manufacturing would have died without thatcher. Cheaper gas and overseas labour would have caused their demise regardless. The death of steel making and ship building was pretty enviable too.

As for car making, you could argue left wing unions buggered that up quicker than was necessary.

This leaves us with ridiculously over paid, but able to piss off overseas if taxed, bankers and various levels professionals right down to teachers who earn enough to live fairly comfortably, but then it's a mess.
Without manufacturing, mining and old fashioned farm work, there are far too many people, chasing far too few poorly paid service jobs.

Combine that with 40 years plus of dodgy education policies and insane house prices and a lot of people are going to fall by the wayside.

I've no idea what the answer is, but trading insults isn't it.

I'm always puzzled by these sorts of statistics: is the growing inequality in the UK a result of people getting poorer or is it a case that there is a spectacularly wealthy elite which makes the rest of us look (relatively) hard done by or is it a combination of the two?

As London and parts of the South East have become safe havens for many of the world's super-rich over the past 10-15 years, I can't help feel that this has started to skew the data a bit and might make comparisons to Nigeria - where there is terrible deprivation alongside tremendous oil wealth - more understandable. In other countries mentioned as more equal - Ethiopia, Jamaica, Ivory Coast etc - there may not be these extremes.

Ttosca have you actually any idea how hard it is to fire a useless lazy arse employee, who spends their life on Facebook?

No!

If you have them on a short term contract in private business it may be possible, but there is still plenty of red tape. If they are a salaried local government employee it's almost impossible.

I think inflammatory post titles don't help, but there is a real issue here. This government is eroding protection for workers, which is already the weakest in Europe. At the same time the evidence shows that good employers don't want this legislation and that firms who invest in training and support for employees do better - because working in partnership with your staff pays off for everybody.

StarBallBunny you now have two years to find out whether an employee is worth keeping or not. And I've read the capability procedures as they apply to the NHS - if managers followed them to the letter, had regular supervision with their staff, raised issues and documented these, then getting rid of useless people would not be so hard. The procedures are there, you just have to use them properly. My every error and my every failing are documented in the monthly supervisions I have with my line manager, as are all my successes - it's basic recordkeeping.

It isn't the gap between rich and poor that we need to worry about - that is unless you're a chippy commie with entitlement issues*. What matters is the poor in absolute terms. Fortunately, we have a social security system which alleviates the worst of absolute poverty. I've said it before when you've linked to this sort of guff, where would you rather be poor, Nigeria or Britain?

*I'm reminded of Jeremy Clarkson's quip (yes, I'm male, right wing and enjoy reading Jeremy Clarkson - I guess that's a full house of wankerdom according to some on these boards) 'When [an American] tramp sees someone driving by in a Ferrari he will say "One day I'll have one of those". Here, what he'll say is "One day, I'll have him out of that"'.

Why are you blaming Tory scum? Social mobility was crap during the Labour years. 13 years of crappy social mobility under Labour and you blame 3 years of the Tories?

After ten years of Labour

MrJudgeyPants when people have to choose between heating and eating in the 6th richest country in the world, there's something wrong. Comparisons to Nigeria are not relevant.

Of course there's envy, but there's also a sense that other countries manage things better, combining capitalist business and societal models with a focus on equality and wellbeing. And yes, I know you can't compare the UK to Scandinavian countries but that doesn't mean we should just shrug our shoulders and say 'it's just the way it is and I'm all right Jack'.

There are no easy solutions, but not trying to make things better for the most vulnerable people in society just does not sit right with me. I guess that makes me a commie, though since I'm not on benefits and am a starry-eyed idealist rather than abrasive not a chippy entitled one.

And Labour are just Tories in red. Politicians are all the same, especially at Westminster. I prefer to do what I can to help locally within my community.

I know ttosca, shall we start putting money back into the economy? De-privatise? Cut the workforce more slack? Yawn.