The Problem of Inequality

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My recently published book of poetry called 'Generation Care' imagines a world in which every person's primary motivation is to care for themselves, for others and for the environment. I have dedicated the book to the group in America who are led by Rabbi Michael Lerner and who want to change the bottom line of businesses, institutions and the education sector away from power and money to a new bottom line of care and compassion.

My thinking is largely founded on the teachings of Jesus, so it is appropriate for me to ask when faced with so many current problems in the world, what would Jesus do? Rev Mark Bredin, who is one of the chaplains at King's Lynn Hospital UK, gave me a valuable insight recently. Regarding the current industrial unrest and frequent strikes in the public sector in the UK at present Mark reminded me that Jesus would pay each worker the same wage. How do we know this? We know this because Jesus tells us the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. In this parable the landowner goes out to the marketplace to hire workers at different times through the day but at the end of the day he pays each of them the same wage. This is what the Kingdom of God is like. Those who are hired later in the day get the same wage because Jesus is generous. In the Kingdom of God we all follow Jesus and learn to be generous to those who would otherwise be poor, (Matthew 20: 1-16).

How would our current culture have to change so that every worker would be paid the same wage? This outcome would fit in well with the evidence presented by epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in their book 'The Spirit Level. Why Equality is Better for Everyone'. In this book the authors present evidence which correlates all our social problems, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, failure of social mobility, obesity and imprisonment with the level of inequality in Western societies.These social problems damage the lives of the rich and the poor. Furthermore, evidence is presented to show that, although economic growth in poor countries leads to improved well being, this graph plateaus with increasing economic growth showing that population well being in Western countries like the UK does not improve with further improvement in growth. What we need to aim for in the UK is equality not growth because equality will deliver the good quality life we all need. The future control of climate change and the solutions to our industrial unrest are to be found in equality. We need to think how this can be achieved.

I wish you a happy and healthy 2023.

Peter Coates

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