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Friday, January 7, 2011

Carol Goar: Why you should care about inequality (in the Toronto Star)

"• Unless you think it is coincidence that nations with a relatively equitable distribution of wealth — the Nordic countries, Denmark, Poland, France — fared better in the 2008-09 recession than those with largest disparities — the United States, Britain, Ireland, Spain, Russia — you have a reason to worry about an unbridgeable gap between the executive class and everyone else.

"• Unless you think Canada is smart enough to defy the pattern of history, you and your 34.3 million fellow citizens are on a risky path. Every society in which a tiny elite has amassed a vastly disproportionate share of the wealth — from 16-century Spain to America in the 1920s — has lost its footing, leading to a either traumatic collapse or an attenuated decline. ...

"There is another option of course: hanging on fiercely to your shrinking piece of the national pie. But it will keep shrinking."

Full article: Goar: Why you should care about inequality.

In this article, Carol Goar suggests some things we can and should do, including giving more to charity, talking to friends and neighbours, speaking up to our elected representatives on this important topic, or joining a global network such as the Equality Trust.

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