Date post: | 01-Dec-2014 |
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The case for the maximum wage – a universal pay cap
‘It is all wrong to have millionaires before you
have ceased to have slums.’
• Lower educational achievement
• Shorter life expectancies
• Increased infant deaths
•More murders
• Increased imprisonment
•More teen births
Increased inequality brings *
* Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009), www.equalitytrust.org.uk
• Less social trust
• Increased obesity
•More mental illness – incl. drug & alcohol addiction
• Reduced social mobility
• Reduced environmental concern
Inequality worsens health and social problems...*
* Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009), www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Income gaps – the difference between poorest and richest 20%
* Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009), www.equalitytrust.org.uk
Richest 20% of households earn 38 times
what poorest 20% earn*
* Stats SA (2006), Income and Expenditure Survey
South Africa (38x, households)Japan (3.4x)
Difference between richest and poorest 20% of population *
United States (8.5x)Denmark (4.3x)
Each year, we now use 50% more water, soil, fresh air, wood and carbon storage
than the Earth can sustainably provide.*
* WWF Living Planet Report 2012
Consume less, share more.*
* Herve Kempf and others
What’s most important in politics...
‘The first is money, the second one is money and I’ve forgotten what the third
one is.’
– Mark Hanna, 19th century Ohio industrialist and Republican US senator.
South African wage increases 2006-9: *
Workers: ↑15,4% CEOs: ↑200%
* Computus (Leadership Online, 4 May 2010)
‘Growth-led poverty reduction …’
Wealth can destroy as much as it can create.
Wealth can destroy as much as it can create.
Wealth can destroy as much as it can create.
Global financial crisis …
Solutions...
‘It is all wrong to have millionaires before you have
ceased to have slums.’ – John Spedan Lewis, founder of the John Lewis Partnership
Democracy does not require perfect equality but it does require that citizens
share in a common life.– Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...
– American Declaration of Independence
Liberté, égalité, fraternité.– France’s national motto
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
– First Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms.
– South Africa’s Bill of Rights
It is all wrong to have millionaires before you have ceased to have slums.
Consume less, share more.