Legislators Dug This Hole. It's Time They Got Us Out of It.

 

Former World Bank chief economist and Nobel laureate, Joe Stiglitz, has made the study of inequality his life's work. It was the subject of his PhD thesis.

I have some of his books. There is much in them worth reading. One point above all others sticks in my mind, Stiglitz' observation that inequality is neither market nor merit based. It is, instead, a legislated outcome.

The people we elect to high office, wittingly and unwittingly, pass laws that advantage some at the ultimate expense of the many. They may do it under the guise of stimulating growth or they may plead necessity, the need to remain competitive. Either way the many are progressively ground down, like so much collateral damage. 

The gig economy, people working two or three jobs to make ends meet, people living from paycheque to paycheque always at risk of falling through the cracks, the malignant growth of the precariat - these are all warning signs our supposed leaders ignore.

Not surprisingly, we've hit a new low. A team including renowned economist, Thomas Pikkety, has found that global inequality has hit levels not seen since "the pinnacle of Western imperialism in the early 20th century."

“Global inequalities seem to be about as great today as they were at the peak of western imperialism in the early 20th century,” the report said. “Indeed, the share of income presently captured by the poorest half of the world’s people is about half what it was in 1820, before the great divergence between western countries and their colonies.”

While wealth and income inequality reach record levels democracy is in decline. In some countries, such as our immediate neighbour, oligarchy has taken hold evidenced by legislative, regulatory and, now, judicial capture. 

In Canada, Justin Trudeau sent his then finance minister, Morneau, out to tell young Canadians (or as I called them, Generation Screwed) they were just going to have to get used to life in the "job churn", jumping from job to job, existing paycheque to paycheque. 

Then again, Justin was born with a silver spoon, the sort of thing unfamiliar to most drama coaches.