Economy Action Group

I understand the desire to respond to the questions of unequal pay and the issues raised by Prof Wilkinson. And perhaps the Equality Trust is a useful first step. However, this inequality business is very much a UK-only perspective attempting to address a symptom, not the cause.

For example, what drives the creation of inequality in the first place? It does nothing to address the problems of consumer demand that drive the exploitation of cheap labour in other countries, keeping us rich and them poor. Neither does it address the current priority of financial considerations over local and relational ones, which drives the power of the city and establishes the basis for large, multinational corporations.

Both of these examples, which pit money against ethical concerns (with the outcome always foreknown), it seems to me, are tackled much more effectively by local currency development. The solution to a more equitable society, and world, is to recognise that the power of money needs to be deflated. I don't think moves that reflect the old communist attempts at centralised control and redistribution are helpful to this - they always lead to their own form of exploitation and corruption. The more economic power and decision making is devolved to relatively small communities, the less opportunity there will be for financial exploitation and manipulation - leading to healthier relations between people, communities, and eventually, countries. Small Is Beautiful!

As Robert Peston has just said - the current economic capitalist model is now bust, while David Cameron in his EU talks identifies British interests purely with those of banking, aka 'financial services'. One is right, the other is wrong.