Wealth & Poverty

On the first post about Penang Island below, some thoughts and questions began to emerge about “wealth creation”. (When people work do they not create wealth rather than take it from someone else? Can wealth be created, or is it limited to the “wealth” the planet supplies us with always (since no amount of work will ever create anything new that hasn’t been made of stuff that was already here)? And is it true that in order to “create wealth” in the usual capitalist sense, planetary resources are ultimately taken from one group of people and given to another? Even if inadvertently etc)

Anyway, a friend has just shared this graphic on Facebook, which, if correct, is pretty telling for Britain. Have a look, if you dare, Britons:

Following my sharing this on Facebook another friend has offered the following that redresses the balance a bit, and points out weaknesses in the way the above was put together: https://fullfact.org/economy/regional-inequality-figures-misleading/ Well worth a look… the first suggested fairer graph it offers is here, for those without time to read the whole article:

I’m still thinking about this, wondering if it misses the comparison with the poorest in each area though? It’s the gap between richest and poorest that was part of the shock of the original chart, for me.

Another friend has shared this website too, with some other interesting charts and data: https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk?sfns=mo

…And, further to all the above is this shocking and clear Wikipedia article that provides a lot of food for thought. Including facts like; “The three richest people in the world possess more financial assets than the lowest 48 nations combined.” And “An October 2014 study by Credit Suisse also claims that the top 1% now own nearly half of the world’s wealth and that the accelerating disparity could trigger a recession.” And “According to a June 2015 report by the International Monetary Fund: “Widening income inequality is the defining challenge of our time. In advanced economies, the gap between the rich and poor is at its highest level in decades.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_inequality#