To reduce the gap between rich and poor in the UK
we need stronger democracy
Direct democracy led by voters, citizens, can enrich politics and positively influence environmental and social conditions.
In recent years citizens initiative with binding ballot (referendum) CIR has tackled aspects of overt unfairness and inequality such as the need for a "living wage" and the massive gap between high and low earners within companies. Our short article here illustrates a broad area of finance, the "RENTIER" phenomenon, to which effective democratic regulation by parliamentary law-making (unlikely here in UK) and by CIR could be applied.
Consider for example:
Weakened regulations in "a treasure island for rentiers"
"The gap between rich and poor in the UK is at least as high today, academics calculate, as it was just before the start of the second world war. This is largely because the British state that once mediated the struggle between labour and capital has been taken over by rentiers. Weakening regulations, reducing the importance of fiscal policy and shredding social protections has corroded liberal democracy in which an increasingly influential wealthy few have been enjoying a free run. Ultimately, rentiers want to increase what the economist Michał Kalecki called the “degree of monopoly” in an economy. This allows them to limit the ability of workers, consumers and regulators to influence the markup of selling prices over costs and to defend the share of wages in output."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/27/the-guardian-view-on-britain-out-of-the-eu-a-treasure-island-for-rentiers
What can we do ? – here are some proposals:
George Monbiot, a well known critic of prevailing politics and pro-environment activist, has "outed" himself as a democrat! A rare bird among British journalists. In a newspaper article he proposes that we in the UK should introduce elements of citizen-led direct democracy.
A snippets from his article:
"You lost, suck it up: this is how our politics works. If the party you voted for lost the election, you have no meaningful democratic voice for the next five years. You can go through life, in this “representative democracy”, unrepresented in government, while not being permitted to represent yourself.
Even if your party is elected, it washes its hands of you when you leave the polling booth. Governments assert a mandate for any policy they can push through parliament. While elections tend to hinge on one or two issues, parties will use their win to claim support for all the positions in their manifestos, and for anything else they decide to do during their term in office."
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Location of above comment also at Linkedin.com where you can contribute and ask questions
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stronger-democracy-can-reduce-gap-between-rich-poor-uk-iniref-iandrgb
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And more:
Find out how to get better democracy for UK and our countries:
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
http://www.iniref.org/ Link to site index
Contact: info@iniref.org