The Resolution Foundation's Deputy Chief Executive on why the absolute size of wealth gaps matters as much as the relative ones, what extreme wealth does to power, and much more...
The telling point is that with extreme wealth becomes power and that almost inevitably leads to inappropriate political influence. That need not necessarily be outright corruption but influence nonetheless that less mortals do not have, even though there are many more of them. Fundamentally undemocratic. We see it at an extreme in the USA but the UK as probably the closest economic model to the US in terms of its Anglo-Saxon, neoliberal underpinnings, is not so far behind.
That means tackling those centres of power, both public and private, notably the City and Treasury
The telling point is that with extreme wealth becomes power and that almost inevitably leads to inappropriate political influence. That need not necessarily be outright corruption but influence nonetheless that less mortals do not have, even though there are many more of them. Fundamentally undemocratic. We see it at an extreme in the USA but the UK as probably the closest economic model to the US in terms of its Anglo-Saxon, neoliberal underpinnings, is not so far behind.
That means tackling those centres of power, both public and private, notably the City and Treasury