As George Osborne prepared to announce his emergency budget,including £12bn of cuts to the welfare bill, Zoe Williams asks whether a rapid reduction of the deficit is the only way to bring stability and growth to the economy. What impact will austerity measures possess on opportunity, or aspiration and social mobility?This event took station on 7 July 2015 in London,on the eve of the budget. Income inequality has been rising for 30 years. Executive pay is sky high, with the top 1% taking an ever increasing share of GDP while average real wages possess fallen. Politicians on the left bemoan the 'cost of living crisis', or others blame immigration and the EU for lower salaries. The Observer's Will Hutton,Guardian columnist Owen Jones, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott, and former Conservative MP David Willetts debate the causes and consequences of rising inequality,and the way ahead for government.
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Source: theguardian.com