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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/24/the-guardian-view-on-inequality-seedbed-for-disharmony
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| The Guardian view on inequality: seedbed for disharmony The Guardian view on inequality: seedbed for disharmony | |
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| The slow economic strangulation of millions of Britons started long before the vote to leave the European Union this year. It was first felt when austerity wrapped its long fingers around public spending. But it all began with the Great Crash in 2008. Cataclysmic events have contributed to desolate times for workers for many years ahead. The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ finding that after this week’s autumn statement real wages in the country will still be lower by 2021 than they were in 2008, as the workforce suffers the worst decade for pay in at least seven decades, should ring alarm bells. The reasons are now well known: lower business investment, scared off by Brexit uncertainty, will result in lower productivity and sink wage growth. The drop in sterling, sparked by the fears of Britain’s departure from the continent, has pushed up inflation. Real wages will flatline next year and looming benefit cuts will squeeze living standards. The thinktank pointed out that by 2021 real GDP per household will be £1,000 lower than expected only months ago, back in March. | The slow economic strangulation of millions of Britons started long before the vote to leave the European Union this year. It was first felt when austerity wrapped its long fingers around public spending. But it all began with the Great Crash in 2008. Cataclysmic events have contributed to desolate times for workers for many years ahead. The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ finding that after this week’s autumn statement real wages in the country will still be lower by 2021 than they were in 2008, as the workforce suffers the worst decade for pay in at least seven decades, should ring alarm bells. The reasons are now well known: lower business investment, scared off by Brexit uncertainty, will result in lower productivity and sink wage growth. The drop in sterling, sparked by the fears of Britain’s departure from the continent, has pushed up inflation. Real wages will flatline next year and looming benefit cuts will squeeze living standards. The thinktank pointed out that by 2021 real GDP per household will be £1,000 lower than expected only months ago, back in March. |
| This points to a dark time ahead for a country already split over attitudes to Europe and polarised by political forces once considered on the fringe, but now firmly in the mainstream. The IFS revealed a nation divided since 2007: while the over-60s saw their incomes rise 11% until 2014, British workers aged between 22 and 30 saw median wages fall 7%. The tax and benefit changes, modelled by the IFS, reveal that over the next five years the top 30% of earners will benefit; the bottom 70% will lose out. The government’s plan to raise the new minimum wage for over 25s – to £9 an hour by 2020 – has been derailed by lower growth. | This points to a dark time ahead for a country already split over attitudes to Europe and polarised by political forces once considered on the fringe, but now firmly in the mainstream. The IFS revealed a nation divided since 2007: while the over-60s saw their incomes rise 11% until 2014, British workers aged between 22 and 30 saw median wages fall 7%. The tax and benefit changes, modelled by the IFS, reveal that over the next five years the top 30% of earners will benefit; the bottom 70% will lose out. The government’s plan to raise the new minimum wage for over 25s – to £9 an hour by 2020 – has been derailed by lower growth. |
| The Conservative party has changed its attitude to borrowing. It is now content to saddle the country with debt levels not seen since the 1960s. What Conservatives have not done is think again about redistribution. They need to. Rising living standards are a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for a happier society. When there’s less to go round, more anxious and fractious voices are raised. But if the rich just get richer while the poor keep getting poorer, society can retreat into rigidity and intolerance. Once enough voters lose the sense they are getting ahead and wealth is being sucked up by a tiny elite, trouble lies ahead. Populists will trade on such fears. Mainstream politicians must understand they have a chance to stop them – but only by sharing wealth and opportunity. | The Conservative party has changed its attitude to borrowing. It is now content to saddle the country with debt levels not seen since the 1960s. What Conservatives have not done is think again about redistribution. They need to. Rising living standards are a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for a happier society. When there’s less to go round, more anxious and fractious voices are raised. But if the rich just get richer while the poor keep getting poorer, society can retreat into rigidity and intolerance. Once enough voters lose the sense they are getting ahead and wealth is being sucked up by a tiny elite, trouble lies ahead. Populists will trade on such fears. Mainstream politicians must understand they have a chance to stop them – but only by sharing wealth and opportunity. |