6.2.1 Modern Economic Challenges
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6.2.1 Modern Economic Challenges
© Image of a homeless man in a Chicago subway station, courtesy cityflickr/miele. Quotation by William Dean Howells
Click image for larger viewIn the previous section, you looked at several types of economic systems and at some of the advantages and disadvantages in each.
There are opportunities and challenges that accompany any political and economic system. Liberalism, with its focus on individual freedoms, has had unexpected and undesired consequences.
This image from Japanese flickr photographer Hani, is of a homeless man sitting at a subway stop in Chicago. His poverty contrasts starkly with his colourful surroundings.The quotation by American journalist and author William Dean Howells points out the irony of American life. In a nation whose founding document begins, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and whose "American dream" is based on the idea that freedom holds the promise of prosperity, the reality is great disparity between rich and poor. In fact, in the United States, the gap between rich and poor is one of the highest in any wealthy nation and, according to its own records, has been steadily increasing since the early 1980s.
Income inequality in wealthy liberal democracies can be seen not only between a handful of rich people who own most the wealth and the majority of households who own far less, but also between men and women, between people of different racial backgrounds, and between the educated and the uneducated.
Inequality among nations is also a problem for a world that is following liberal principles increasingly. Although industrialized nations are wealthy, almost half the world-over three billion people-live on less than $2.50 a day.
There are opportunities and challenges that accompany any political and economic system. Liberalism, with its focus on individual freedoms, has had unexpected and undesired consequences.
This image from Japanese flickr photographer Hani, is of a homeless man sitting at a subway stop in Chicago. His poverty contrasts starkly with his colourful surroundings.The quotation by American journalist and author William Dean Howells points out the irony of American life. In a nation whose founding document begins, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and whose "American dream" is based on the idea that freedom holds the promise of prosperity, the reality is great disparity between rich and poor. In fact, in the United States, the gap between rich and poor is one of the highest in any wealthy nation and, according to its own records, has been steadily increasing since the early 1980s.
Income inequality in wealthy liberal democracies can be seen not only between a handful of rich people who own most the wealth and the majority of households who own far less, but also between men and women, between people of different racial backgrounds, and between the educated and the uneducated.
Inequality among nations is also a problem for a world that is following liberal principles increasingly. Although industrialized nations are wealthy, almost half the world-over three billion people-live on less than $2.50 a day.
In addition to inequality, environmental issues are concerns the world over. Decreasing natural resources, food shortages, poor air quality, and climate change are issues that face everyone in the world, regardless of their ideology. Will the unlimited economic growth limit the potential of future generations? How much are the principles of liberalism to blame for economic deregulation? Are limits to our freedoms necessary to preserve the world?
The contemporary world is faced with many challenges. As citizens in a democracy, we can decide what steps must be taken to deal effectively with those challenges. Will we continue to allow unregulated growth with the belief that the market will take care of itself? Or will we choose to put limits to liberalism?
In this section, you will look at some of the contemporary challenges that face liberal economic systems through an exploration of the issue question:
To what extent is liberalism viable?