As Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett point out in The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, phenomena usually described as "social problems" (crime, ill-health, imprisonment rates, mental illness) are far more common in unequal societies than ones with better economic distribution and less gap between the richest and the poorest. Decades of individualism, competition and state-encouraged selfishness – combined with a systematic crushing of unions and the ever-increasing criminalisation of dissent – have made Britain one of the most unequal countries in the developed world.
via guardian.co.uk
Something tells me that while we drink the coolaid of economic development "Cleveland-style" this is more likely the outcome for CLE than what we're being told. Afterall something like 3 out of 5 people in CLE live at or below the poverty line.
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