{"id":3579,"date":"2014-01-28T21:03:33","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T20:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=3579"},"modified":"2014-01-28T21:03:33","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T20:03:33","slug":"the-implications-of-jubilee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoillamp.co.uk\/?p=3579","title":{"rendered":"The implications of jubilee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"harvest<\/a>In the last post we had a very brief look at the idea of jubilee<\/a>. In this follow up post I am going to suggest how we might if not have something similar, at least follow the spirit of the jubilee.<\/p>\n

As I wrote one the inescapable conclusions about the jubilee was it was an attempt to reduce inequality. \u00a0 At the moment inequality is rising almost everywhere (at least in developed OECD countries).\u00a0 Especially in the US and UK.\u00a0 There has also been much talk of the rise of a new middle class in the “BRIC” countries recently.\u00a0 An article by Paul Mason<\/a> in the Guardian recently suggests that these people are not nearly as wealthy as we would think of the middle class in the developed world.<\/p>\n

He goes on to write;<\/p>\n

“What was unthinkable 20 years ago is now becoming tangible: that the real incomes of skilled workers, knowledge workers and managers in “developing countries” are overlapping with those at the bottom of the heap in western society.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Another statistic being banded around last week was that the richest 85 people in the world are worth as much as the world’s 3.5 billion poorest<\/a>.\u00a0 The reasons for this are self evident. Off-shoring has hit manual jobs in the West and taxes have been cut for the wealthiest.<\/p>\n

Does any of this matter?\u00a0 I think it does.\u00a0 There are good practical reasons to make societies more equal.\u00a0 We all ultimately end up paying the price somehow through crime, bigger prisons, paying for ill health etc.\u00a0 But I also think its offensive to God.\u00a0 The prophets clearly saw morality as more than just “personal morality”.\u00a0 See Amos 2v6 for example.\u00a0 Jesus and the whole bible does appear to have a bias to the poor (Mathew 25v31-36.\u00a0 Its not that the rich are less precious to God but as my minister put it recently, he knows they can look after themselves.<\/p>\n

So what could we do to follow the spirit of the jubilee?\u00a0 Looking at a graph provided in the print edition of Will Hutton’s article (link in the previous post) on the total income going the richest 1% of the population, there are some clues.\u00a0 The 1970’s in the UK was when the wealth difference between the richest and poorest was at its narrowest. Incidentally its also when were at our happiest.\u00a0 Here are my suggestions;<\/p>\n