Keyword: income inequality

South Africa's Freedom Journey Fatally Undermined by Continuing Crises of Poverty, Unemployment and Inequality

Picture: Woman walking in Langa township courtesy WBUR Boston Dale T. McKinley - Evidently, the ANC thinks that the people of South Africa do not know their own history. That’s more or less what ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe said the other day when addressing the media in the lead-up to the organisation’s 103rd anniversary celebrations. In his words: “We will be reminding people of their history. They don’t know the journey and the complexity of the journey. Freedom is not a destination. It is a journey.” Besides their...

South Africa's Freedom Journey Fatally Undermined by Continuing Crises of Poverty, Unemployment and Inequality

Picture: Woman walking in Langa township courtesy WBUR Boston Dale T. McKinley - Evidently, the ANC thinks that the people of South Africa do not know their own history. That’s more or less what ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe said the other day when addressing the media in the lead-up to the organisation’s 103rd anniversary celebrations. In his words: “We will be reminding people of their history. They don’t know the journey and the complexity of the journey. Freedom is not a destination. It is a journey.” Besides their...

Global Inequality Reaches Levels Not Seen in Nearly 200 Years

Picture: Dean Chahim/flickr Common Dreams - Global income inequality has returned to levels recorded in the 1820s—when the Industrial Revolution produced sizable wealth gaps between the rich and poor—according to a new report released Thursday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The sweeping study, "How Was Life? Global Well-Being Since 1820," uses historical data from eight world regions to present for the first time "systematic evidence" of trends in areas such as...

Inequality and the 1% in the UK: Can the Brits Afford Their Rich?

Picture: Social Issues India Video Oxford University Professor, Danny Dorling, unpacks the latest research into how the lives and ideas of the 1% impact the remaining 99% in the UK. He says there’s a new cleavage opening up. The 1% used to have a more diverse group of professions, but increasingly it is concentrated in the financial sector. Britain’s 2,200 bankers earn over a million euros annually. In comparison Swiss bankers earn only half as much. A consequence of this growing division is that the UK now has...

Nick Hanauer: Beware, Fellow Plutocrats, the Pitchforks are Coming

Picture: kerrodhall Video The people over at TED seem to have had a change of heart and allowed billionaire Nick Hanauer back onto their stage. Back in 2012, TED notoriously censored a talk Hanauer gave on income inequality because it challenged some still enduring, but flawed assumptions about who the real job creators are. A self-described plutocrat and unapologetic capitalist, Hanauer is paradoxically calling for changes that challenge the status quo. “No free and open society can long sustain this kind of...

John Oliver on America's Income Inequality

Picture: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Video John Oliver is priceless in this episode of Last Week Tonight where he talks about America's income inequality, wealth concentration amongst the elites and the racial discrepancy in wealth distribution. US President Barack Obama famously identified income inequality as the defining challenge facing his country at the end of 2013, but quickly backtracked on the assertion, after Democrats appeared to be split on the issue. Needless to say, Obama’s spineless response to the pressure from...