Fidelity chair warns about growing inequality

| 20/02/2014

CNS): The chair of the Fidelity Group has warned that unless something is done to address the growing inequality gap between the rich and poor in the Cayman Islands as well as round the world, we will continue to see low growth, increases in crime and poor standards of health among the people. Speaking at the opening of the annual and rebranded Cayman Economic Outlook conference, Anwer Sunderji said the world was changing and people had to learn to get used to working hard and longer for less reward in an increasingly competitive environment. Pointing to those who are suffering the most at the bottom of the socio-economic heap, he said if the gap continues to widen this will create further problems.

He said it was a serious issue that was increasingly apparent in Cayman, as with other economies. Although the Caribbean had inadequate data In general regarding the facts and statistics, he said people did not need data to confirm what they could see.

While the governor before him and the premier after him were more upbeat about Cayman's economic outlook, Sunderji was a little less optimistic as he warned that the world had been wasting the opportunities presented by a 'good crisis' but the long seven year global recession was not over yet and there were many challenges and changes ahead.

He said countries would have to manage the expectations of better citizens as the future would be enormously competitive and much tougher than people seemed to be prepared for.

The conference opened at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman on Thursday to a packed house. Sunderji said at least  400 people attended the annual conference, making it a record breaking event.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    The work market and the social market has changed and explains the increasing gap.  Those who are poorly educated have an increasingly limited economic role to play.  Unless we are willing to adopt communist style equal pay or extremely high taxes, the fact is that inequality will grow bigger for good reasons.  Practically the better way to deal with this issue will be to more effectively segregate the wealthy from the poor, to protect the wealthy from poor criminality, and to guarantee the poor minimum standards of living in return for being compliant with their legal obligations.  This guaranteed should be coupled with very harsh responses to those that do not comply as effectively the non-compliant underclass member will be huge a negative to societal and economic needs.  This is not touchy-feely I know but it is the reality of mankind's future – effectively controlling the uneducated masses will be the challenge of this century.

    • Anonymous says:

      Economic positions are not on a line where one goes rightor left to infinity.

       

      Economic positions are on a circle, those who keep moving right or left end up at the same point on the circle, repressive totalitarianism.

    • Anonymous says:

      I have an honest question for the original poster here – are you serious or are you trolling?

    • Anonymous says:

      05;55

      I just cant buy that.

      Why is it now that the local builders have to sit at home and the foreign contractors, developers and investers take it all??

      up until 20 years ago local builders were all busy, building this country. You telling me, they were educated then but dont have the ability to continue to do so! …BS!!.

      Its all to do with the calibre of politicians we have running our country. 20 years ago the leaders looked out for the people, today they look out for their pockets and the  small special groups.

  2. Anonymous says:

    This inequality is what gave rise to labour unions and in the U.S. you ar beginning to see a resurgeance  of them again. If businesses in cayman dont start paying their employees a living wage you will soon see unions being formed here too.  

    • Anonymous says:

      Wow, how terrible, giving workers a better voice to air concerns.  How terrible.  Let's keep working practices like the 18th century if possible.

    • Anonymous says:

      22;41

      My friend its not just the living wages that will cause trade and labour unions. It has to do with the way immigration is letting in more and more foreign businesses, which is closing down the long term…well established companies.

      These companies can not  get work or business.

      The governments and immigration can only see the revenue from these new businesses, but it will be the down fall of this country one day soon.

      And please do not believe that the government will start up any tyoe of associations or unions to help the businesses.

      They are the adversaries and the enemy of the people.

      A union has to start and run by  the private businesse, not government, they created this mess.

      All day long you can hear them! on the roads!…uh! ah! boy!..no jobs, thats the sound of the caymanians!!

  3. Anonymous says:

    Don't forget we imported poverty and their many children when thousands of status grants were gifted to the needy…thanks Mac….we are now  being made to feel guilty because the added load to our overburdened social services can't adequately feed our unemployable new citizens.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yeah, I get hit up about twice a day by ex-pats bumming money and smokes.

    • Anonymous says:

      Like a broken record.  Accept it.  This festering resentment is not going to make your perceived problems go away.  They are Caymanians like you. 

      • Anonymous says:

        Wrong to say "like you". I don't breed with multiple partners and then expect others to pick up the  

        Tab.

        • Anonymous says:

          What a disgusting comment! I don't breed with multiple partners either and I am 100% Caymanian.

    • Anonymous says:

      The imported poverty is still adding to our problems here, they are bringing more of there own into  our islands.   Immigration needs to do a better job.  Too many are coming in as visitors and are relatives seeking work and children who are allowed to go to school.  Why are we burdening our government with other countries problems?

       Time for change is now.  Immigration has to do a better job.  Lower our imported poverty level.

      • Anonymous says:

        07;01

        And how are we going to do it?? wait every four years to change the guards? no, lets form a union! Picket the immigration, picket the LA, picket the admin building.

        The Ukrainians did the right thing they wouldnt give up until the damn thief quit his seat. i will say this, we can talk till Christ come and the poiliticians are not going to change. We have to take them out of their seats…. at the interim.

  4. Anonymous says:

    When 30% of the Caymanian population reach poverty levels in their own country the rich people aren't going to like it. The arguement will be "We will just leave and go someplace else". Where? This is the last of paradise if you all screw this up there will be no where else to go.

    • Anonymous says:

      I am sure "paradise" has a different meaning when used on this site.

    • Anonymous says:

      This is the last of paradise

      No, it is not

       

      • Anonymous says:

        I did not realise that paradise would be so unattractive geographically and meteorologically.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Inequality worldwide, and particularly in America, where it  is porobably at a one-hundred -year extreme, is the most serious threat facing modern societies. If pushed much further it will inevitably lead to some form of revolution. What form this will take is anyone's guess, but in America the working class has lost most of its effective union representation, the middle classes have been squeezed and asset-stripped, and the top two percent of the population owns 80% of the wealth. On top of this, there is a widely held perception that the real criminals in our society are at the top of the financial ladder rather than at the bottom.

    The result is that 98% of the population is being exsanguinated by  the Corporations and the super-rich. Between them they have hijacked democracy in America by buying influence in Washington and walking over the Constitution. The irony is that the soaring greed of the few has resulted in a population that will continue to have less and less discretionary cash to spend, so ensuring a failing economy, and an ever-increasing likelyhood of upheaval.

    Some 30% of America's population is close to poverty, a proportion of unhappy people that is quitecapable of a volcanic uprising.

    • Anonymous says:

      This comment hit the nail! Perfectly explained. 

      • Anonymous says:

        Not be the purported author, who cut and paste this from a mainstream media article this week, the BBC if I recall.

         

         

         

    • Anonymous says:

      I remember one of my political science professors saying that if 2% of the population decides to have an uprising a government is in trouble…can you imagine if 30% were to take action. I agree that something needs to be done globally….big business controls all.

    • Dreadlock Holmes says:

      I totally agree with this comment. The logic seems to have escaped the one percenters that when money is made from producing absolutely nothing of value ie. Derivatives and when people are driven into poverty through the maximization of profits, then they have nothing to spend. This type of economy is based on who gets out before it collapses.

      • Anonymous says:

        You obviously have no idea about derivatives.  Stick to what you know about, which I presume is not too complex intellectually.

        • Anonymous says:

          Listen, the person may not have a degree in finance but they are pretty close to the truth on that one.  How can you buy and sell debt that is not yours and make money on a spread. Derivatives.  Someone loses and someone wins.

          You know Warren Buffett? He called them WMD's. Weapons of Mass Destruction. ie 2008.

          Guess what happened to all those mortgage backed swaps and synthethic securities that all those big banks defaulted on?   The banks defaulted and had someone bail them out.  The taxpayers paid for the greed of the banks.  End of story.

    • Anonymous says:

      More idle threats of anarchy and disruption. I've been listening to  overblown threats such as yours for 40 years now. Lets lose the over dramatization- of everything in our society- and have a mature discussion about topics. 

      #Boredwithuselessrhetoric

      • Anonymous says:

        You might want to give some caymanians a job. and stop giving  it all to your country man, for the last 40 years.

        • Anonymous says:

          Yawn… you will want to direct that comment to the two Caymanian (born and bred I may add) owners of the company. I am merely a lowly salaried employee.

    • Anonymous says:

      And a civil war will break out in the USA. Same as in the UK!