Justice in Wealth Distribution: Between Failure and Rectification (Part One)

·       Part One..

-        That rising inequality in the distribution of wealth is a problem of most countries in the world, especially developing countries among themselves, and it is also an intractable problem within each country.... The United Nations and its agencies pay major attention to the deepening phenomenon of inequality resulting from disparities in wealth between nations. And also within nations: in an article in the British newspaper The Independent, it revealed a study prepared by "Credit Suisse" on global wealth in mid-2017, showing that the wealth of the 1% of the world’s richest... is what owns half of the world’s wealth, which indicates inequality among humans.... Yet 10% of the wealthy own 87.8% of global wealth...!!

-        The increase in inequality in the world leads to an increase in the number of millionaires; conversely, the poor of the world, numbering about 3.5 billion people, own only 2.7% of the global wealth, which rose to $280 trillion.. according to the Credit Suisse statistic referenced above.

-        As for the existence of disparity in the distribution of wealth within a single country… which is what we will focus on in this article, it is known in any society that the segments of that society share in benefiting from the fruits of economic growth in their country, but to varying degrees. There is inequality in the distribution of wealth within countries and between them. Perhaps this inequality in capital within a country is an important local issue... Social classes — rich and poor — enter into conflict with each other in an attempt to reduce income gaps fairly... which creates political, social, and economic instability in a society afflicted by inequality. And when we call for equality in the distribution of income and wealth... that does not mean equal division of incomes, since economic growth is based on factors of labor that require among their prerequisites: skills, competence, achievement, and performance, which are measured and tied to these factors—and ownership of them varies from one person to another..!!

-        The concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people is the result of several factors, such as, for example, inheritance and increasing rates of return on capital... and an increase in the rate of return above the rate of growth... in the market. Conversely, there is an increase in continuing population growth rates, usually accompanied by internal migration from rural areas to cities where job opportunities exist... whether income from work or income from business in the city, which consequently neglects any development in the countryside... and what follows: increased poverty rates in rural communities. In addition, there is a lack of intervention by the executive authority in that country—or the failure of that authority to reduce disparities... between segments. Either its inability or its failure to intervene to address the accumulation of wealth and incomes among the wealthy class and the increasing levels of poverty among the poor and the accumulation of public debt that, in the end, is borne by the poor through tax payments, in addition to the widespread levels of unemployment resulting from government spending not being directed to the correct investment uses to create jobs to address rising unemployment, which increases the poverty of poor segments, and its payment of debts and their interest and the government’s fiscal deficits from tax funds that it increases in order to expand taxation to service the public debt knowing that government spending in Palestine is generally directed to paying wages which represent more than 55% of public revenues.. for public sector employees who are notable for their large numbers... and government spending is in part directed to service projects and projects that lead to an increasing consumer pattern, and our societies tend toward imports... mainly for consumption.. even domestic lending saw striking increases in consumer loans in society in 2017 in Palestine, but not in developmental investment projects with profitable returns. !!

-        There may also be corruption within that authority and favoritism toward the wealthy segment, and some components of the private sector... in the country in question. Palestine is one of the countries afflicted by inequality in the distribution of wealth... and one prominent economist wrote the phrase: that "at any time when we talk about the distribution of wealth," "politics does not lag far behind.".. And it is difficult for anyone to escape bias and class interests...!!

-        Someone might ask, is the disparity in wealth derived from inherited wealth or from savings that come from income on capital—returns— or labor income—wages— or illegal income-?
To briefly answer that, we clarify the nature of incomes and their types... Income usually consists of two basic components: income from labor such as wages, salaries, allowances and others related to work, and income from capital such as rent, cash distributions, interest, profits, and other forms of capital including real estate.. machinery... etc. And there are wealths in society resulting from deals, bribes, speculation, gambling and brokerage and mediation, and money laundering... whose components are illegal... and corruption spreading in society may lead to the plundering of a country’s wealth by some influential officials, and evasion abroad, which reduces the size of wealth in the country and thus weakens the processes of economic development.

-        The way people live and the relationships of power and control among social groups "are observed by members of society who can distinguish between what is fair and what is unfair" and do not require statistical analyses..... They feel the injustice of disparities and inequalities in the distribution of wealth... There are inherited fortunes... which the government legislator cannot approach these private inherited properties except when he proposes tax laws with varying and progressive rates on properties and rents... What makes the injustice more grievous is the disparity in incomes among members of the same working class in production processes, and the increase in inequality that reflects to a great degree an unprecedented path in the high incomes from labor received by general managers and executives in large and medium companies and non-governmental institutions, especially those funded from abroad. In many cases these high salaries and privileges are without any link to achievement or competence or the level of the companies’ year-end results. People are fully aware of the wealth ladder in their society... and the extent of deep-rooted inequality in their society... whether by feeling or by abstract observation...!!

-        Date 30-1-2019