Veronika Wild

-Image by Copilot, modified by Cluan  Where we are now Great wealth has indeed been created over the past 40 years. However,  “the invisible hand " of the market, which free marketeers are fond of citing which was to bring wealth to all, has been busily transferring wealth upwards, rather than allowing any to “trickle down” as promised when giving tax cuts to the already wealthy. Under pressure from corporations and wealthy individuals,  both top tax rates and company taxes have been progressively cut, leaving many countries with deep budget deficits and growing inequality, even before the recent automation and AI layoffs.  For the rest of the population, life has become less secure and more difficult since the 1980s and the changes are coming much more swiftly than in the past -far faster than society is able to absorb the displaced workers.  We see the evidence all around us, whether it is in crumbling infrastructure, boarded up shopfronts,  rising homele...

- Image by Copilot  Let's continue our sweep through history and take a look at the last 50 years or so, before we look at how we could best manage the latest wave of displacements. Bear with me here, because I think it's important to understand the economic and political climate as well as the thinking, which were the backdrop and sometimes the driver of the events which followed.  If you were an Aussie kid born after the War II– things just got better and better. Although things might have been a bit tougher for migrants kids like us, they too continued to improve. Our family got a washing machine, not long after Mum got a job, then a refrigerator and finally, a small TV. Before that we, like other people stood around  around in front of electrical shops to watch the flickering screen and once a week we would watch Disneyland at a friend's house. Around us, more and more families were getting cars. When we were old enough to get jobs, they were easy to find in an...