Wealth creation and poverty

Listening to a leader of business telling us that ordinary people are not happy with business almost made me laugh. Watching  the debate by the Conservative candidates for leader of the Tory party and ultimately Prime Minister of the U K reinforced the impression that Tory politicians and business leaders do not know what life is like for ordinary people. Tax cuts for the rich by the politicians, large pay rises for the business leaders and others like Vice Chancellors of universities by those at the top. The majority of people would not be angry with those at the top if they thought there was a fair share out of the wealth. That is not the case. The working person has been screwed while those at the top use their position to enhance their wealth. Don't tell me there are renumeration committees to vet the pay rises. These committees are made up of a small circle of the same people. It is you scratch my back I will scratch yours.
What most people realise is that wealth has to be created before it can be shared out. Those at the top have to realise that they must make their contribution and not use every devious means to reduce their tax burden. If they are not careful they will let happen the very thing which they most fear a very left wing Labour govern,net.
This is illustrated in my novel An Odinary Life with this extract. This is from the 1980's but the same is being discussed today.
Mike stayed, " In a small country, we cannot afford to let the skills and expertise fade away. If we could only truly politicise the working class so that all became active, they  would take over the unions and make them do what the true working class want the unions to do. That is push for a socialist society. From a position of strength in the unions, ordinary people could then move into the ward and Constituency Labour Parties. I reckon the only way to save the Labour Party from the disaster of another election defeat is to start putting in place a Marxist agenda. There is a newspaper called Militant which argues this.”

         “ That is not the way,” Tom put in softly. “ We have to create wealth. My brand of socialism has always been about how we use the wealth to create equality rather than the state running everything. Like you Mike, I fail to see how anybody can justify earning one hundred times more than the ordinary worker but we have to create wealth before we can embark on a socialist agenda. The rich and more fortunate in society have to be convinced that taxes are a way of encouraging the poor and disadvantaged to better themselves.”

         “ In order to create wealth for the whole of society we have to encourage people to take risks and keep a great proportion of their wealth,” Edward shrugged eloquently. “ What is most important, as Tom said, is how we then use the wealth created. There has to be an element of redistribution within the system but more important is that everyone has access to a good health service no matter how rich they are. In addition, the education system should be funded so that every child has a chance to fulfil their potential.”

         “ You would say that, Edward Houseman,” Mike almost shouted. “ You have wealth and a high standard of living. You never have to think about where the next penny is coming from. Your wife never has to make choices between whether to feed all the family small portions or whether to go without herself so that her husband and children will get enough.  There is a lot of poverty out there which the world does not see. All poor people are not slovenly. Some struggle to put on the best outward appearance they can to the world. It is these people we have to help and letting the stinking rich keep more of their earnings is not going to help these people.”

         “ Will it help the poor people of this country if we tax all the rich people to such an extent that they take their wealth and talent abroad and do not pay any taxes at all?” Edward put to Mike bluntly. “ People with wealth spend their money here which helps with employment. We have to stay true to our Labour Party principles while finding a way which allows people to make money while helping those at the bottom of the heap.”

         “ Rubbish!” Mike shot back equally bluntly. “ The wealth of this country is made by those who work with their skilled hands. Could your average managing director make something from a block of metal? Could they stand the heat of the shop floor? Militant newspapers says that we should do away with the management classes as they stand and run our factories by workers councils."
We are once more back to the morality of the rich.
An Ordinary Life by Edmund Gubbins available from Amazon as paperback or Kindle to download as an ebook.