Nothing But The Truth

Beware the tendency today to have opinions proferred by eminent people confused with facts by trusted media sources.

Today, the BBC’s Kamal Ahmed in a story about the growth of the UK’s gig economy, quotes Lord Adair Turner, a British economist and policy adviser, as “correct” in expressing his opinion that the failure to see a real rise in average UK wages since 2007 proves that the capitalist system is not living upto its’ promise to “raise all boats over a decade”.

The capitalist system promises to create an environment for maximising wealth creation. There is no better system at doing that. It doesn’t “promise” anything other than in fostering competition, there will be winners and losers.

A capitalist economy’s fault line comes in how it deals with both groups and how it distributes wealth fairly and equitably. Should a public company CEO earn 10x that of a brain or heart surgeon who saves lives or 300x their lowest paid employee? I happen to believe everyone, who is seriously intent on working, and contributing to society, should be able to have a job.

Where we are on unsafe ground as a society, is when prominent journalists with dominant global media platforms don’t self-check opinions expressed as facts. For who are we to believe?

© James Berkeley 2017.

 

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