The writer is the author of ‘Capitalism on Edge’ and associate professor of politics at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies
“Tax the rich” has become the progressive battle cry — and not merely on the fringe. The scourge of economic inequality is celebrity politics, voiced by Nobel prizewinners and international policy chiefs alike.
Yet this slogan did not deliver the electoral victories the left hoped for. The reason is that economic instability, not inequality, is what ails the 99 per cent. Inequality is one symptom of instability, to be sure. But to focus on inequality alone is a diagnostic error. And the cure is not simply redistribution of purchasing power, but more radical: to build a more stable, secure and sustainable society. The Covid-19 pandemic drives this point home.