"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is a common saying that most of us hear all the time, and this unequal distribution of income and economic assets is usually a major problem in developing countries. However, this problem is currently seen in many developed countries like America and Australia.
When asked: how can we close this increasing gap between the rich and the poor? Many people would answer education, because education creates human expertise and knowledge creating many job opportunites for the individual seeking for a job.
In my opinion, the irony lies here.
Many developing countries do not offer free education due to government budet constraints and even if they do, children from poor families are forced to work in poor working conditions with very little pay to help feed their families, hence unable to receive this 'free' education and those children, their family and the childrens children would be forever stuck in a 'catch-22' or a vicious spiral where the poor CAN ONLY GET POORER. The rich, on the other hand, have many resources which they are able to pass on to the next generation giving their children a head start in their cycle of getting richer...
So is there a solution?
*Progressive taxing may help to eliminate the gap slightly, where we tax the rich more heavily and exempt the poor from paying tax
*Minimum wage requirements in every country so foreign firms cannot exploit cheap labour
*Large multinational companies should consider investment projects in developing countries to create jobs and provide training opportunites as a form of corporate social responsibility
Any other opinions, comments and thoughts are welcome!
Vanessa Chu
When asked: how can we close this increasing gap between the rich and the poor? Many people would answer education, because education creates human expertise and knowledge creating many job opportunites for the individual seeking for a job.
In my opinion, the irony lies here.
Many developing countries do not offer free education due to government budet constraints and even if they do, children from poor families are forced to work in poor working conditions with very little pay to help feed their families, hence unable to receive this 'free' education and those children, their family and the childrens children would be forever stuck in a 'catch-22' or a vicious spiral where the poor CAN ONLY GET POORER. The rich, on the other hand, have many resources which they are able to pass on to the next generation giving their children a head start in their cycle of getting richer...
So is there a solution?
*Progressive taxing may help to eliminate the gap slightly, where we tax the rich more heavily and exempt the poor from paying tax
*Minimum wage requirements in every country so foreign firms cannot exploit cheap labour
*Large multinational companies should consider investment projects in developing countries to create jobs and provide training opportunites as a form of corporate social responsibility
Any other opinions, comments and thoughts are welcome!
Vanessa Chu