The Growing Income Inequality in Many Societies - Book Report/Review Example

Development Paper Based on the assertions put forward by the Guardian, the growing income inequality is evident in many societies. The inequality is wrong for it leads to negative bearings to the society. This is clearly illustrated in the interview with Byanyima who confirms that this inequality brings about bad governance. Byanyima also confirms that there is inequality by comparing a 1% population of the rich to own same as what 50% poor people own. This gap has grown over time with an example in UK. The gap between the rich and the poor highly widened since the wealth of the 100 richest people would be equated to the wealth owned by 300 households. Therefore, various leaders including the Pope Francis have warned against the increase of inequality in the economy saying that it would be dangerous (Elliott, 2015). The Guardian Newspaper also found out that inequality brought about the rise of political agendas. Therefore, governments have adopted a plan to handle inequality of wealth and income. The plan involves investing in free major services like education and health. This is to help the public benefit regardless of their economic class. Clamping down tax by introducing a regression method where people pay tax according to their income and not at a fixed amount is yet another plan used (Elliott, 2015). The government plan to introduce a minimum wage to ensure that workers are properly paid and introduce tax shifting to create a fair economic that will bridge the inequality gap (Gutting & Anderson, 2015). Governments were also expected to come up with a common goal that would eradicate inequality. This kind of inequality development has been caused by the history of colonization to various economies. This is especially the third world countries that were colonized by countries like British. According to Deepak Lal, in The Misconceptions of Development Economics, many third world countries have the problem of income and wealth inequalities. This because rely too much on their colonizers for funds. This makes them have the problem of inequality of income because funds provided by these colonizers are dictated upon. This has more of negative impact to the poor than to the rich hence increasing the gap between them (Elliott, 2015). The gap between the wealthy and the poor still enlarged over time due to various factors. Among other causes, neoliberalism is said to take the greatest blame for the widening of the gap. Neoliberalism has been defined as a theory that was used in the past years by the governments that hold the personal liberty of a government in free markets. Free markets were meant to encourage investments in countries to improve the economy since citizens were not to be charged with trading with the borders. According to speeches presented in New York by Ronald Reagan, who was the 40th president of United States, they showed much optimism on neoliberalism. He presented neoliberalism agendas in the form of two periods of governance of his time. It was in reference to the metaphor of the ‘rising the tide lifting all the boats’. His emphasis on neoliberalism brought introduction to the e-commerce and the use of internet in the post –industrial period. Reagan also explained the claim to neoliberalism according to the World Bank and the IMF. He explained how the two were responsible for the widening of the gap between the poor and the rich over time despite the various efforts to curb the inequality. The aim of the World Bank is to reduce poverty, worldwide, but at times it fails in its mandate of reducing the inequality and, in fact, helps in widening the gap. Sometimes the money provided by the World Bank and the IMF is used for government development projects that do not benefit the poor (NPR Staff, 2015). Some projects initiated by the World Bank lead to wrangles and wars in a country, which lead to displacement of people. An example is the land conservation project in Kenya funded by the World Bank that led to displacement of people. At times, some of the projects widen the gap between the rich and the poor because the rich get the benefits of managing the projects and they might maneuver them to suit their interest (Elliott, 2015). The inequality gap is justified because most poor people are uneducated and do not have enough skill to oversee projects using funds provided by the World Bank or the IMF. Neoliberalism has brought about unjust inequalities. It has been contended that the rate of income and wealth have influenced decisions in various sectors such as the social hierarchy of power where some leaders cannot be held accountable for their deeds in the community. Leaders and people of high ranking in the community get away with various types of crimes that may even include rape and oppression of the poor. Neoliberalism has also caused the imbalance opportunities for the rich and poor. The rich seem to be given more opportunities compared to the poor since they have more influence on situations while the poor are voiceless. This has affected the development of the economy which has been discussed via various theories. One of the development theories is the neo-classical theories that include the evolution of thinking of people in an economy. It deals with the Keynesian approach which ends up with the neo-liberal approach. This theory approaches development in terms of modernization. It views a modern lifestyle as a developed lifestyle since modernization comes with developments. However, this may also widen the gap between the poor and the rich as the rich are the ones who are always easy to embrace development. The development that follows the colonialism pathways has led to income and wealth inequalities in developing countries as only a small percentage of the population have control of the affairs. There is exploitation and limits to ownership of certain assets that were distinguished by the colonial powers. Imperialism has encouraged diplomacy and development that promotes fairness. However, diplomacy has loopholes that have been exploited by a few people who hold power. It has led to income and wealth disparities. However, countries should continue to pursue development using diplomacy grounds but seal the loopholes of exploitation. Deepak Lal assertions incline to the idea that diplomacy does not necessarily guaranteed fair income and wealth distribution. It should be managed well to give rise to the desired economic results. Conclusion Though development has been explained over time by various writers, the development of the world has been quite difficult to explain. This is because it is mainly dependent on the developed countries that fund them in most of their projects and dictate their terms to them. This is according to Deepak, who also views the development in a more confident way that someday there will be an improvement in development policy-making in the third world countries. References Deepak Lal, The Misconceptions of Development Economics Elliott, L. (2015, January 19). New Oxfam report says half of global wealth held by the 1% | Business | The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/19/global-wealth-oxfam-inequality-davos-economic-summit-switzerland Gutting, G., & Anderson, E. (2015, April 23). What's Wrong With Inequality? - NYTimes.com. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/inequalities-we-can-live-with/?mabReward=A1&action=click&pgtype=Homepage%C2%AEion=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=2 NPR Staff. (2015, April 17). When The World Bank Does More Harm Than Good : Goats and Soda : NPR. Retrieved April 28, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/04/17/399816448/when-the-world-bank-does-more-harm-than-good Ronald Reagan Speeches Read More