End global inequality: become a Luddite

END GLOBAL INEQUITY: BECOME A LUDDITE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Clive Crook]
[Commentary] The new World Economic Outlook the International Monetary Fund finds that incomes of the poor are rising around the world, in industrial and developing countries alike; liberal trade reduces inequality ­ again, in poor countries as well as in rich countries; and technology not globalisation in its own right is the principal driver of inequality. Instead of critics of globalisation the world needs critics of technological progress. If we can only stop or slow that, we can have more equal societies. An impossible dream? By no means. Here are some practical first steps. Punitive taxation is a no-brainer. Include a surtax on scientists and engineers. Restrict postgraduate education to the arts, humanities and the law. In fact, make postgraduate study in those fields compulsory. And dismantle all the legal protections of intellectual property. Ned Ludd was right. The world has put up with progress and its consequences too long. The IMF agrees. It is all there in its report.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e17c6aea-7fdf-11dc-b075-0000779fd2ac.html
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