Fair and Just society is the least of our problem.it probably a problem in Equitorial guinea or Qatar where gdp per capita on paper is 40Kusd but most folks are poor..otherwise simple maths will tell you if we share our wealth equally and justifiably...we will still have per capita of 1500 or less per annum.
The first part above seems to confuse two different things:
(a) having a lot and not sharing it in a reasonable way; and
(b) sharing reasonably whatever there is.
Eq. Guinea belongs to the first category; on other hand, there are countries next door that have less than Kenya but fewer inequalities.
Red: One of Gaitho's points is that focusing on figures like GDP per capita is not good enough, and it is not good enough for an obvious reason: not everyone in a country has the said slice. The case you give of Eq. Guinea is a good example. In any case, the argument for trying to achieve better equality is not that it will increase a country's total wealth; so it is odd to have an argument that better sharing will not change GDP per capita.
Another point is that disparities in "wealth" is not just an issue of how much the average person has. In fact, huge disparities are likely to cause more problems in a rich country than in a poor one, and a place like Eq Guinea is actually an extreme peculiarity. The top 1% of the USA owns about 35% of its wealth. Considering the circumstances of the average American, that is not as bad as a similar percentage in a poor country.
The most immediate effect of inequalities in a place like Kenya is the rise of social problems, e.g. crime, which it turn affect the quality of life. What drives "social crime" (car-jackings, violent home break-ins, etc.) in a place like Nairobi is not the mere fact that it has many poor people.
Topic: Gaitho on Madaraka Day (Read 3813 times)