Widening rich-and-poor gap - Our faith in the market is misplaced

Nearly every flashpoint issue bedevilling our world is rooted in how wealth generated in a society is used or shared — or if should be shared at all — to benefit everyone in that society. The eternal stand-off between property rights and the common good remains unresolved and, if history is anything to go by, it is likely to remain so.

The widening gap between rich and poor, the extinction of so many jobs — blue or white-collar — by automation or globalisation has made whole swathes of the West’s population feel betrayed by the system they supported for so long.

There are other issues but the destruction of opportunity, the flattening of the middle classes gave Trump a ready-made, angry constituency. It also fuelled the populism — if that is not an inaccurate tag — behind Le Pen.