“This info-graphic shows how, as a percentage of national income, poorer families now command a smaller part of the pie.”

Yes, we have increasing inequality of market incomes. This is hardly new information, is it?

So, what do you want to do about it? Tax the rich more to give greater benefits to the poor? Only problem with that is that it won’t change your figures there by the slightest iota, not even £1 either way.

Because those are pre tax and pre benefits incomes…..market incomes.

Glad to see no one’s mentioning that the gernder pay gap has shrunk yet again. Do we declare that problem over now or something?

You can almost hear the tumbleweed rolling along… nothing to reply to Tim then Sunny?

@1

One solution would be to repeal some of Thatcher’s destruction union busting legislation to allow workers greater representation in their workplace, and greater power to negotiate higher wages.

You can also imposed a maximum pay multiplier on the private sector which would cap the earnings of the richest, or raise the wages of the poorest, or both.

Thirdly, you could require companies to provide a decent pension for their staff, which would boost the income of the elderly – particularly those who have been screwed by the private sector their whole life, and have to rely on the basic state pension.

Finally, for now, you could give workers a majority on all remuneration boards, so that chief executives would have to prove their worth to the company to get big money, and explain why they deserve to be paid 50 times the wages of someone with a poorly paid but vital job.

> Glad to see no one’s mentioning that the gernder pay gap has shrunk yet again. Do we declare that problem over now or something?

It’ll be over when it’s closed.

The disturbing thing is, the main factor that prevents a manufacturing renaissance in Great Britain is that workers’ pay is so high it would make most goods made by it unsaleably expensive.

@ 5

On the other hand if Western (not just British) wages were low enough, then these jobs would not exist, would they? Every manufacturer wants ‘employees’ to be on £25,000 plus so they can afford to buy their products, but none of them wand to pay that type of wages, preferring to pay pennies an hour to Third World staff.

What would happen if the average wage was reduced to about $4000 throughout the West? Would Dyson, Sony et al suddenly shut up shop in the Far East, and move back to Europe? Or would they find that people with no money are not likely to buy Plasma screen, 3D TVS?