http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/27/376736/britains-gdp-lower-than-poor-us-states/
According to Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator magazine, Britain would fall behind the poorest of US states in terms of GDP per US state, divided by population. This figure is surprising considering the "financial preeminence" of London; the city was recently named by Forbes as "The World's Most Influential City" due to its multitude of foreign direct investment deals.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the article is a statistic that comes from a UK charity group. The group reports that Britain's five richest families have a combined fortune of $46.9 billion in comparison to the $46.7 billion that is shared between the poorest 20 percent of the UK population. In the past two decades, the richest .1 percent of the UK population has seen its wealth grow almost four times faster than the rest of the population.
Even more compelling is that food poverty in the UK has recently climbed, supported by a 19 percent increase in the number of citizens hospitalized for malnutrition over the past year.
I believe it will be interesting to see how Britain chooses to address the clear economic inequality, if they choose to address it at all.
I wonder if Britain uses the "Trickle down theory" that President Reagan adopted. It didn't work here because the rich didn't invest back in the economy when they got their tax break.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of the huge disparity between the ultra-wealthy and the poor. If Britain does choose to address it, I wonder if they'll use taxes as a way to improve equality and begin closing the gap, the way Obama has planned to in the past. It will be interesting to see what path is taken.
ReplyDeleteI am very surprised by this article. It definitely does provide good insight on the gap between rich and poor. I wonder what the UK will do, considering that London was voted to be the most influential city. Maybe they'll start providing necessary food for those who can't afford it, or have something like food stamps to give to those that are struggling.
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