TEDxTableMountain - 'The case for the maximum wage'

The case for the maximum wage – a universal pay cap

‘It is all wrong to have millionaires before you

have ceased to have slums.’

• Lower educational achievement

• Shorter life expectancies

• Increased infant deaths

•More murders

• Increased imprisonment

•More teen births

Increased inequality brings *

* Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009), www.equalitytrust.org.uk

• Less social trust

• Increased obesity

•More mental illness – incl. drug & alcohol addiction

• Reduced social mobility

• Reduced environmental concern

Inequality worsens health and social problems...*

* Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009), www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Income gaps – the difference between poorest and richest 20%

* Wilkinson and Pickett, The Spirit Level (2009), www.equalitytrust.org.uk

Richest 20% of households earn 38 times

what poorest 20% earn*

* Stats SA (2006), Income and Expenditure Survey

South Africa (38x, households)Japan (3.4x)

Difference between richest and poorest 20% of population *

United States (8.5x)Denmark (4.3x)

Each year, we now use 50% more water, soil, fresh air, wood and carbon storage

than the Earth can sustainably provide.*

* WWF Living Planet Report 2012

Consume less, share more.*

* Herve Kempf and others

What’s most important in politics...

‘The first is money, the second one is money and I’ve forgotten what the third

one is.’

– Mark Hanna, 19th century Ohio industrialist and Republican US senator.

South African wage increases 2006-9: *

Workers: ↑15,4% CEOs: ↑200%

* Computus (Leadership Online, 4 May 2010)

‘Growth-led poverty reduction …’

Wealth can destroy as much as it can create.

Wealth can destroy as much as it can create.

Wealth can destroy as much as it can create.

Global financial crisis …

Solutions...

‘It is all wrong to have millionaires before you have

ceased to have slums.’ – John Spedan Lewis, founder of the John Lewis Partnership

Democracy does not require perfect equality but it does require that citizens

share in a common life.– Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

– American Declaration of Independence

Liberté, égalité, fraternité.– France’s national motto

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

– First Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms.

– South Africa’s Bill of Rights

It is all wrong to have millionaires before you have ceased to have slums.

Consume less, share more.