Todos los participantes añaden sus ideas, inspirados en eventos virtuales realizados en todo el mundo por los organizadores locales de cada ciudad. La ciudad con más ideas recibirá el premio a la ciudad más creativa.
For decades, we have seen an increase in inequality of wealth with the top 1 percent taking advantage of their power and wealth to create a political system that works for them rather than society. ONS figures for the UK in 2016 showed that the richest 10% of households held 44% of all wealth, whilst the poorest 50% owned just 9%. Worldwide figures also make depressing reading with the top 1% earning 20% of the world’s income.
The period of austerity since the Great Recession of 2008 has therefore meant CEO’s have had the freedom and power to take advantage of the market; advocating economic ideologies such as trickle-down economics, which creates ‘phantom-wealth’ for the ordinary working man and essentially means the rich succeeding at their expense.
Since the global pandemic of COVID-19 these inequalities in wealth have been further emphasised and the British Government now needs the correct policies to come out of what economists have called a V shaped recession in aggregate demand.
What will be people’s incentive to work in the post-Covid economy?
Those involved in employment in the NHS and work described as ‘front line’ in the present pandemic e.g. cleaners, bus drivers, supermarket workers will be given greater status in society and a greater worth attached to their work.
The bottom 50% and those affected most by the last ten years of austerity.
Wider society as they learn that deep satisfaction in life does not come from financial gain, but through the feeling that you have made your contribution to the smoother running of civic society.
My idea is for a campaign that re-evaluates our perceptions on work and our incentives to achieve. In the post-pandemic world people need to understand the absurdity of incentive-based pay in financial markets and sectors which now seem increasingly irrelevant.
A doctor’s incentive during this pandemic and throughout their careers is to simply save lives. Nurses who have been at loggerheads with the UK government in recent years over working conditions and pay have put themselves and their families at risk by working on Covid Wards. Care workers, particularly those in care homes, have even worked without the correct protective equipment, again putting those in their care before themselves. The reasons for these people getting up every day and meeting this crisis head-on whilst giving their all seems to have little to do with money.
The campaign would challenge present perceptions that focus too readily on people’s salaries and instead would place greater emphasis on an individual’s contribution to society. In other words what they are doing for the greater good.
It would mean Government taking a much more proactive role in shaping the economy and creating an environment whereby the public sector and those involved in jobs which help the wider community are given greater kudos.
Community co-operatives would be entrusted to run essential services and these would function on much more egalitarian lines, whereby the workforce would feel part of the decision-making process in contrast to the traditional top-down highly hierarchical management structures of the present.
This would be their job satisfaction, that they are doing something intrinsically worthwhile whilst having more of a say in what their day-to-day activities look like.
Socially – Society is more aware of inequality and deprivation and will strive to do something about this. Innovation is this new era will be defined as successful depending on its impact for the greater good. This should lead to a society where everyone feels valued and one which is less cynical about the motivation of politicians in making important decisions.
Economically – we face a challenging period coming out of the Covid 19 crisis. There will be suffering, but, if the burden of moving the economy out of recession is managed by government so that no one group is adversely affected, this can be shared. Ultimately the ambition must be to avoid a return to the inequality of an economic system that was too reliant on market forces and the influence of large corporations and the CEOs.