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[Talk about missing the point, clinically cockamamie denial, rushing
headlong into chaos. "Growth" impaired by inequality! Growth, in a time
of oncoming global climate catastrophe. Inequality in a time of
unimpeded, virtually unprecedented accumulation by the scant few. And
the OECD's prescribed remedy? Not Piketty's "tax the rich" (ignoring how
policies have driven the turnaround since 1980, as Michael Hudson says
http://michael-hudson.com/2014/10/piketty-vs-the-classical-economic-reformers/,
when "progressive taxes were rolled back, public enterprises were
privatized and debts soared", "the tax shift off wealth and capital
gains onto wages and consumer spending", while "interest rates plunged
to all-time lows," and "ideological support for the 1%’s conquest of the
99%"), or any discussion of any sort of structural reform, but moving
right along, the OECD's relucent remedy is "skills development."]
BBC World News business headlines Watch
8 December 2014 Last updated at 21:51 ET
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30390232
Inequality 'significantly' curbs economic growth
Income inequality has a "statistically significant impact" on economic
growth, according to research by the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In the UK, rising inequality cost the economy almost nine percentage
points of GDP growth between 1990 and 2010, the think tank said.
The US lost almost seven points.
The OECD also found that redistribution of wealth via taxes and benefits
does not hamper economic growth.
"This compelling evidence proves that addressing high and growing
inequality is critical to promote strong and sustained growth and needs
to be at the centre of the policy debate," said OECD's secretary
general, Angel Gurría.
"Countries that promote equal opportunity for all from an early age are
those that will grow and prosper."
Widening gap
In the 34 countries that are members of the OECD, the gap between rich
and poor is at the highest level in 30 years, the group said.
The richest 10% in those states earn, on average, 9.5 times the poorest.
In the 1980s, they earned 7 times as much.
The only countries in which the OECD found inequality had fallen were
Greece and Turkey.
Education
A lack of investment in education was the key factor behind rising
inequality, the OECD said.
Fewer educational opportunities for disadvantaged individuals had the
effect of "lowering social mobility and hampering skills development,"
the report warned.
It also said that those whose parents have low levels of education
suffer most when inequality rises, whereas family background matters
less to those from a more educated social sphere.
The OECD called for policymakers to do more than just implement
anti-poverty programmes.
"Policy also needs to confront the historical legacy of underinvestment
by low income groups in formal education," it said.
"Strategies to foster skills development must include improved
job-related training and education for the low-skilled, over the whole
working life."
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