John McDonnell’s plan to tackle inequality should not scare off the bosses

John McDonnell’s plan to tackle inequality should not scare off the bosses | Editorial

John McDonnell’s proposals represent an attempt to deal with growing inequalities of wealth and power in Britain. They deserve to be heard

John McDonnell’s speech at the Labour party conference was a radical one, with proposals aimed at responding to the concentration of wealth in Britain by doing more than just mitigating it. Mr McDonnell seeks to inhibit the capture of power by putting in place mechanisms that remove the ability of those who accumulate it at an alarming rate. The shadow chancellor rightly wants to use the power of the state to diffuse power – and contrast this with markets which concentrate it.

This strategy is not risk-free, but since the great financial crash of 2008 it has become popular. Mr McDonnell’s policy prescriptions are unfairly attacked. They will not “crack the foundations of this country’s prosperity” as the CBI claimed in its response. We ought to resist adding up perceived past failures into a damaging total. This is a problem of the counterfactual – comparing what is with what would have happened. After all, many of these policies are the norm in other advanced western economies.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2pwY4Cn

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