Elmer's English 304 Magazine

Letters

Income inequality: A stand for the underprivileged

December 29, 2011

Elmer G. Wiens
204-5555 Balsam Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6M 4B5

Editor
The Vancouver Sun

Published: Vancouver Sun, Thursday, December 29, 2011

Dear Mr. Editor

Re: Columns on income inequality, Dec. 13-17

In their four-part series, UBC's economists present an analysis of the growing disparity of income among residents and citizens of Canada.

However, they fail to explore how, or even if, a skewed distribution of income contributes to capital formation, and growth in GDP (gross domestic product) and employment.

In the first instance, a more equal distribution of income would result in greater consumer expenditures, spur-ring economic growth, and greater producer profits and investments.

In a supplementary article, Herbert Grubel lauds the market forces that permit low-income earners to move into higher income groups.

However, he fails to consider the proportion of low-income earners who remain in these dire circumstances year after year.

The Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal in Challenge to Affluence describes an "underclass" caste of underprivileged families whose children's social and economic mobility is limited, and who are unable to organize to change their plight.

Myrdal writes, "For its own health and even preservation an effective, full-fledged democracy needs movements of protest on the part of the underprivileged."

Sincerely

Elmer G. Wiens
Vancouver