BY ARMINE YALNIZYAN, GLOBE AND MAIL BLOG

The world is marking the third anniversary of the biggest global economic crisis since the 1930s by staring down the imminent possibility of a second global downturn. Virtually none of the conditions that triggered the first one have been addressed.

As nations steel themselves to provide more taxpayer-funded cash to stave off a new round of defaults while cutting supports for taxpayers, policy makers are pointing to rising income inequality as cause for concern in a climate of growing instability.

Notably, it’s not the usual voices of the left sounding the alarms, but pro-market heavyweights like the Conference Board of Canada and the International Monetary Fund.

That such groups are worried should be a signal to Canada’s private sector leaders: pay attention to the compensation gap between your lowest paid worker and that of the CEO, because those differences may tell us a lot about the mess we’re in. After all, businesses rely on the rising purchasing power of the many, not the few, to deliver growth and profits.

 Press Release

(Halifax/Moncton) A new study released today, entitled Cost of Poverty in New Brunswick, co-authored by economist Angella MacEwen and Christine Saulnier, reveals that:

• Poverty costs the New Brunswick government a half a billion dollars per year.


• These costs accounted for 6.5% of the 2009/10 New Brunswick government budget.


• Health care spending on poverty alone costs the government $196 million per year.


• When the costs to government are added to the broader costs to the economy, the total cost of poverty for the province is $2 billion dollars.


• Investing in a comprehensive plan to alleviate poverty could cost as little as half as much as the quantifiable costs of poverty.

"It is clear that delayed action to address poverty in New Brunswick is very costly to government directly and to society more broadly," says Saulnier, who is also the director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia, which released the report today in partnership with the NB Common Front for Social Justice Inc.