The debate about fairness, in terms of both rewards and opportunities has been taken on board by amongst others, Rowan Williams.
He appears to be favouring a Robin Hood Tax, so called because it robs the rich to help the poor?
Well not exactly, but it is an attempt to re-balance a financial system that is intrinsically unfair by definition however it can only go so far and in effect is tinkering with effects rather than examining underlying causes.
The trouble with Bishops claiming that they understand poverty was best illustrated by a story I heard when I was a Vicar in Salford.
I have no idea whether it was true or not but it made its point pretty effectively.
A row had broken out in a Parish and the Parish Priest had been called in to see the Bishop. From the Bishop's study window it was possible to look down and see the parish in the distance.
You see, says the Bishop, from here it all looks so peaceful.
Yes, replied the Parish Priest, and I am sure that Hades looked peaceful from the comfort of Abraham's bosom.
So, thank you to all the helpful Bishops amongst the twitterati but I don't need the advice you so helpfully dispense.
So what can be done, the post war settlement has failed, no more homes for heroes, no more planning the economy to protect working people, no more welfare safety net. We now live in a world of bankers bonuses and CEO pay levels which, apparently now average £2.7M annually.
New Labour were relaxed about people becoming filthy rich because that was clearly in the long term plan.
So we were encouraged to borrow against the constantly rising value of property, we did it personally but the Government also did it and now we are paying the price, through unemployment and cuts, cuts, cuts in public services.
Now we are in the mess we are in and there is no obvious way out and we are not all in it together some are more in it than others. So what can be done?
I have always thought that there were three important principles which should be written into the capitalist system:
The first is that there should be an agreed ratio between the highest paid and the lowest paid in any organisation. What that ratio should be is a matter for debate. A factor of ten would mean that in a company where the lowest paid earned £9000 the highest paid would earn £90,000, still a huge and questionable differential.
The second builds on the idea of a minimum wage to guarantee everyone a national minimum income. Whether the national wealth is generated by a few financiers or by mass manufacturing, that wealth needs to find its way into as many pockets as possible in order that it can be spent and saved, thereby creating both a market for goods and pool of national wealth. The current rewards system which gives a few millions and millions little or nothing has failed to stimulate either demand or saving.
The third is a jubilee. The biblical jubilee required that in the fiftieth year every man's (sic) patrinomy be returned so that all would be restored to their own land and titles. The effect of this was to legislate against the accumulation of property and wealth in the hands of a few oligarchs. Ultimately taxation is not an adequate mechanism for redistributing wealth and a more radical intervention is required, this is both idealistic and impossibly millenarian but a regular debt write off for individuals, at least once in a lifetime, is both necessary and just if the usury of the banks is to be combatted and an equitable system introduced.
I once bought a book simply for the title, it was called The Millenium Postponed, inevitably ideas like these will be dismissed as unworkable and impractical, but compared with the National Lottery creating a new millionaire each week through chance, I suspect that they will have the advantage of simply making life less chancy and more equitable for people.
He appears to be favouring a Robin Hood Tax, so called because it robs the rich to help the poor?
Well not exactly, but it is an attempt to re-balance a financial system that is intrinsically unfair by definition however it can only go so far and in effect is tinkering with effects rather than examining underlying causes.
The trouble with Bishops claiming that they understand poverty was best illustrated by a story I heard when I was a Vicar in Salford.
I have no idea whether it was true or not but it made its point pretty effectively.
A row had broken out in a Parish and the Parish Priest had been called in to see the Bishop. From the Bishop's study window it was possible to look down and see the parish in the distance.
You see, says the Bishop, from here it all looks so peaceful.
Yes, replied the Parish Priest, and I am sure that Hades looked peaceful from the comfort of Abraham's bosom.
So, thank you to all the helpful Bishops amongst the twitterati but I don't need the advice you so helpfully dispense.
So what can be done, the post war settlement has failed, no more homes for heroes, no more planning the economy to protect working people, no more welfare safety net. We now live in a world of bankers bonuses and CEO pay levels which, apparently now average £2.7M annually.
New Labour were relaxed about people becoming filthy rich because that was clearly in the long term plan.
So we were encouraged to borrow against the constantly rising value of property, we did it personally but the Government also did it and now we are paying the price, through unemployment and cuts, cuts, cuts in public services.
Now we are in the mess we are in and there is no obvious way out and we are not all in it together some are more in it than others. So what can be done?
I have always thought that there were three important principles which should be written into the capitalist system:
The first is that there should be an agreed ratio between the highest paid and the lowest paid in any organisation. What that ratio should be is a matter for debate. A factor of ten would mean that in a company where the lowest paid earned £9000 the highest paid would earn £90,000, still a huge and questionable differential.
The second builds on the idea of a minimum wage to guarantee everyone a national minimum income. Whether the national wealth is generated by a few financiers or by mass manufacturing, that wealth needs to find its way into as many pockets as possible in order that it can be spent and saved, thereby creating both a market for goods and pool of national wealth. The current rewards system which gives a few millions and millions little or nothing has failed to stimulate either demand or saving.
The third is a jubilee. The biblical jubilee required that in the fiftieth year every man's (sic) patrinomy be returned so that all would be restored to their own land and titles. The effect of this was to legislate against the accumulation of property and wealth in the hands of a few oligarchs. Ultimately taxation is not an adequate mechanism for redistributing wealth and a more radical intervention is required, this is both idealistic and impossibly millenarian but a regular debt write off for individuals, at least once in a lifetime, is both necessary and just if the usury of the banks is to be combatted and an equitable system introduced.
I once bought a book simply for the title, it was called The Millenium Postponed, inevitably ideas like these will be dismissed as unworkable and impractical, but compared with the National Lottery creating a new millionaire each week through chance, I suspect that they will have the advantage of simply making life less chancy and more equitable for people.
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