Judith Russenberger

Counting on … 157

3rd October 2025

“Growing wealth inequality in the UK could be a “major driver of societal collapse” within the next decade, according to a new report by the Fairness Foundation and the Policy Institute and Department of War Studies at King’s College London…

“The participants identified a negative feedback loop, whereby the government’s failure to tax wealth effectively means it lacks sufficient revenue to uphold the social contract by which strong public services, an effective social safety net and a healthy economy provide people with decent living standards.

“Trust in politics then declines further, politicians avoid honest discussions of the underlying problems and what to do about them, and the system’s legitimacy is increasingly questioned as the social contract collapses.” (1)

Looking at public attitudes, the report that “two-thirds (63%) of Britons now think the very rich have too much influence on politics in the UK – far higher than the share who say the same about businesses (40%), religious organisation (40%) or international organisations like the EU and UN (38%).

Improving incomes levels for the poorest, and taxing the richest clearly has multiple benefits.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/wealth-inequality-risks-triggering-societal-collapse-within-next-decade-report-finds

Counting on … 156

2nd October 2025

How do we ensure that work is used to do good things and not bad things?

As individuals and as households, we can make within the limits of our own domain – although we nevertheless be impacted by the decisions of others. The moral choices we make will be affected by our culture, our upbringing and our faith.

Outside our domain, what work happens and how it is encouraged or not, will depend more on the aims of businesses and corporate organisations, governments and legislation. Traditional economic theory tells us that businesses make their decisions solely on the basis of profit. Governments on the other hand may be seen as ‘systems responsible for governing an organised community, established to serve the collective needs and interests of their populations’ (1) or ‘to serve the interests of its rulers, be they monarchs, dictators, aristocracies, or ruling classes.’ (2)

Taking the former definition, there is also an onus on governments to control or organise businesses so that their pursuit of profit is not at the expense of others. Nevertheless pursuit of profit does seem to be the biggest determinant of what work is undertaken because it is the pursuit of profit that determines how much people are paid for each job, and the ‘profit’ value may differ from what is of value for the welling being of the society. Looking at pay levels, CEOs and senior officials are earning an average of £104,000 (and up to several million for the CEOs of banks, fossil fuel and water companies) but are there jobs really more valuable to society than the work of farm workers, cleaners and and nursery nurses who earn between £17,000 and £27,000? (3)

Could the CEOs do their work if it wasn’t for the large number of low paid workers who ensure that food is grown – and transported to the shops and stacked on shelves and dispatched to homes via delivery vans? Could the CEOs do their work if no one cleaned their offices, mended the electrics, or maintained their IT? Could the CEOs do their jobs if there weren’t nurseries and schools for their children, if there weren’t taxi drivers and traffic wardens and car mechanics getting them safely to work?

Having a UBI would at the very least give more equal value to the the work people. If it was financed through higher taxes for those with higher pay packets, then that too would redress the balance of the social value of work.

(3) https://www.unionlearn.org.uk/compare-average-pay-job

https://www.unionlearn.org.uk/compare-average-pay-job

Counting on … 155

1st October 2025

What is the purpose of work?

Yesterday’s Counting On highlighted some of the diversity around work – and principally that no all work is paid, and indeed nor is all paid work remunerated at the same rate.

According to Ecosia, work, as a noun, is activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result, and as a verb, is to be engaged in physical or mental activity in order to achieve a result. Work might be contrasted with play if play js seen as an activity that has no purpose or result. But play does have a purpose: it enables people (especially children) to learn; it helps people relax; it enables people to explore alternative worlds. Work might be contrasted with being lazy if lazy is seen as not being bothered, or not caring, or being selfish. This brings in a moral dimension and asks the question is not working always bad? Is all work inherently good? Which comes to the question, what is the purpose of work?

We work to stay alive – eg gathering, growing, and preparing food to eat; building, maintaining, cleaning a safe place of shelter – ie a home; looking after our mental and physical health which might include making medicines, or listening to people’s troubles, taking exercise – and making that exercise fun; through education to ensure that what we learn that makes life better is shared and passed on; through exploring and researching and just being curious so as to understand better the intricate ways by which this world exists and flourishes; making clothes and tools, making things that keep our homes warm (or cool) and making things that make our homes homely; making shoes and bicycles and other means of transport (including roads and bridges etc) so that we can meet other people and exchange ideas and goods; protecting the ecosystems in which we live – keeping them safe and in good health, ensuring the safety and well being of each other and all other living beings with whom we share this planet; and finally praying for as St Benedict said, to,work is to pray and pray is to work.

All this is about ensuring a flourishing life for all and is morally good. But what if work is used to harm people, to harm other living beings? What is work is used to exploit the planet, to denude it of resources and to pollute it? What is work is used to benefit and small minority at the expense of everyone – and everything – else?

How do we ensure that work is used to do good things and not bad things?

Counting on … 154

30th September 2025

What is a ‘universal basic income’? What are its benefits?

A universal basic income is a social welfare payment paid to all citizens with either a means test or a requirement to complete any sort of work. As a full basic income, it should be sufficient to cover basic needs. (That said, some people with specific needs might need a higher rate to cover their living costs – eg if they were disabled and needed additional support or equipment).

The idea behind the UBI is that everyone in that society will have enough to live on – is that lower limited of the economic doughnut will have been secured. It allows some people to pursue voluntary work – caring for the young or the elderly, working on conservation projects etc. It allows people to take jobs with low pay – such as artists and cleaners – but might there be an argument here to say such jobs should be better paid even if that means higher prices or higher rates. It allows people with stressful jobs to work shorter hours and spend more time relaxing. It ensures security of income for people whose work is seasonal – fruit picking, local tourism etc.

There are clear benefits to society as a whole – the population will be healthier both physically and mentally. This is good in itself. It means people can work better. It reduces costs for health care. It can increase sales of non luxury goods as more people have the money to spend on essentials. Evidence from small scale trials suggests that with the UBI safety net people spend time finding a job they like and are suited to and then become more reliable committed workers.

Perhaps more importantly it allows people to feel valued and be happy and fulfilled.

“Humans need to do work that feels valuable, psychologically,” says Cleo Goodman, a UBI expert at the thinktank Autonomy. “It’s baked into us. It is complete nonsense to suggest that there’s a faction of society that just wants to sit around on the sofa all day, drinking beer and watching TV. We want to spend a fair amount of our time doing something that makes us proud.” (1)

Some people do argue that UBI would lead to people avoiding work, or not working as hard, big I wonder if that would be so? When we are children, everyone asks what do you want to be when you grow up? Getting a job or a role that you want, a job that you will enjoy, is seen as a sensible and worthwhile objective and one which motivates us. For many of us, the jobs we choose are vocational: we choose them not because of the financial reward but because we would not be happy doing anything else.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/14/money-for-nothing-is-universal-basic-income-about-to-transform-society

Counting on … 153

29th September 2025

Another way – or rather a parallel way – of reducing the inequality between rich and poor (so enabling us to live within the inner and outer limits of the doughnut) is to ensure minimum pay rates that are sufficiently generous to enable a good level of wellbeing. In this regard the ‘real living wage’(1) should be a minimum. The current real living wage is £12.60 per hour (outside London) which for a 35 hour week equates to £22,050 per annum.

But how generous is that – is it just a necessary minimum?

According to the calculations of Raisin (2) a comfortable salary for a single person would be £28,018. But add in a young child, and that income would need to increase to £51,363 – or for a couple and one young child, a joint income of £65,810.

And equally what if you earn the real living wage but are only able to get 20 hours a week?

An alternative would be to pay everyone a basic income, paid for from taxation, to ensure that no one falls through the safety net of not having enough income to sustain a reasonable standard of living.

Proper 21, 15th Sunday after Trinity

28th September 2025

Reflection with readings below

Jeremiah’s action was made as a visible sign of hope – hope that even though it now looked as if Jerusalem and the land of Judah would be conquered by the Babylonian empire, that this occupation would not be forever. There would be a time in the future when the people would once again know freedom. By buying the field at this most inopportune time – whose land would it be when the Babylonian had invaded – and by burying the title deeds in a jar for their long time safekeeping, that land could be rightly reclaimed by Jeremiah – or more likely his descendants – Jeremiah was saying don’t give up hope there. Even if oir land is taken away from us now, even if we are dispersed to foreign lands, there will at some future date be a restoration and we will return!

Many Palestinians families – both Muslim and Christian – have in their possession keys belonging to the homes from which they were ejected by the Israeli forces in the 1948 Nakba. They hold onto these keys as a sign of hope that one day they will return to their homes. Often images of keys appear on banners and signs to symbolise this hope of returning. The Right of Return is in fact a binding principle under international law, enshrined in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, adopted on December 11, 1948. It affirms that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date. It applies to all who have been made refugees. Surely they are right to hope that their futures will include restoration and restitution.

In today’s Psalm we are told that God is our shelter and stronghold. That God protects us because we are bound to God by love. If we call out, God will hear us. Whatever happens God is our safe place – even when a physical safe place seems an impossibility. It must be that belief that enables so many Palestinians to continue to pray and not give up on the hope of a better future.

The Letter to Timothy reminds us that we didn’t bring anything into this world and will take nothing out, and that we should seek contentment with what we have rather than being sucked into an endless desire to accumulate evermore riches and possessions. The writer is focused here on material goods and wealth, for in fact we come onto this world with the gift of God’s love and we take with us all the love that has grown with us through our lives. Not only that, as we come into in this life so we benefit from God’s gift of a bountiful Earth within lean air to breath, water to drink, all manner of fruits and plants to supply our needs – and with their beauty to bring us joy. And it is our responsibility to ensure that we don’t despoil this through greed or stupidity, but rather ensure that all this magnificent wonder of nature is passed on to our children and our children’s children for their wellbeing too. When we leave the Earth we should not leave it in a worse state than when we entered.

Yet when we look at the destruction of land and property, trees, plants and water supplies that is being carried in what was the Holy Land, we are seeing actions that go against God’s will, that destroy the wellbeing of both current and future generations.

We can see the same thing happening when indigenous people have their land taken away or their forests destroyed.

We can see the same thing happening when people are forced out of their homes because they cannot afford the mortgage payments or rents. And we see this happening to whole communities when their local shops and businesses, their community centres and libraries, are closed because rents are too high, funding to low, and market forces distorted by the monopolistic power of big corporations.

Where today do we see or hear the successors to Jeremiah, Moses and the prophets, calling out what is wrong in our world, drawing our attention to what matters and telling us how we can redeem what is being lost? Surely we as Christians and as church communities that are seeking to following Christ, should be the prophets of this age, calling for righteousness and justice and peace to prevail?

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him.

Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.” Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, *
abides under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 He shall say to the Lord,
“You are my refuge and my stronghold, *
my God in whom I put my trust.”

3 He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter *
and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with his pinions,
and you shall find refuge under his wings; *
his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of any terror by night, *
nor of the arrow that flies by day;

6 Of the plague that stalks in the darkness, *
nor of the sickness that lays waste at mid-day.

14 Because he is bound to me in love,
therefore will I deliver him; *
I will protect him, because he knows my Name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; *
I am with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him to honour.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, *
and show him my salvation.

1 Timothy 6:6-19

There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time– he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

Luke 16:19-31

Jesus said, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house– for I have five brothers– that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'”

Holy is God’s name

27th September 2025

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of her hands. Psalm 19:1

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Genesis: 1:29-31

: God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Prayers of praise –

Holy is your name and

Holy is the sky above,

shades of blue –

azure, periwinkle, powder –

with clouds billowing and piled high,

little puffs and wispy streaks;

glowing white or deepest dark greys,

fair weather or storm bearers:

Holy is the sky!

Holy is your name and

Holy is the earth below,

shades of brown –

umber, ochre, taupe –

stones and grit, dust and hummus,

teeming with life –

worms and beetles,

microfauna and fungi:

Holy is the earth!

Holy is your name and

Holy are the waters far and wide,

more shades of blue –

aquamarine, cobalt, sea green –

sparkling spring and dancing stream,

majestic river and languid lake,

and voluminous ocean –

each overflowing with the gift of life:

Holy are the waters!

Holy is your name and

Holy are the weeds that toil and spin,

shades of green –

lime, moss, emerald –

rooted in the earth, clinging onto rocks,

colonising the desert, reaching for the sky,

brimming with fruits in season,

breathing life into the air

Holy are the weeds!

Amen.

Prayers of sorrow-

Heavenly Parent,

We have erred against you and your world.

We have polluted the air and the water,

the seas and the soil.

We ask for forgiveness and healing.

We have squandered the earth’s resources,

and consumed more than our fair share.

We ask for forgiveness and healing.

We have decimated plants and animals,

we have destroyed habitats and poisoned food chains.

We ask for forgiveness and healing.

We have abused our kin and ignored their humanity,

grinding them down into lives of misery.

We ask for forgiveness and healing.

From a place of sorrow, revive us.

From a place of penitence, quicken us.

From a place of humility, rebuild us.

Amen.

The Grace

Counting on … 152

26th September 2025

Wealth taxes are also a good idea that could be implemented globally.

Gabriel Zucman, a French economist, at the request of the Brazilian G20 presidency, has produced a blue print for such a tax – to be collected by participating nations. “[A] minimum tax on billionaires equal to 2% of their wealth would raise $200-250 billion per year globally from about 3000 taxpayers”. He explains that “The G20 has been a driver of international tax reforms over the past decade. Thanks to the leadership of the G20, more than 130 countries and territories have agreed to a common minimum corporate tax for large multinational companies in 2021. What we have collectively done with multinational corporations, we could in principle now do with billionaires.” (1)

One argument against taxing the rich is that it stifles enterprise. However Oxfam’s report Takers Not Makers, revealed that 60% of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, cronyism and corruption, or monopoly power. (2) Taxing such wealth would not undermine enterprise. Rather the revenue raised could provide much needed infrastructure for poorer communities enabling them to have more opportunities to become entrepreneurs. The revenue could equally enable poorer nations to adapt to the impact of climate change – a crisis that is being compounded by the growing number of billionaires!

https://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/report-g20.pdf

(2) https://oxfam.dk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/2025-english_davos_full-_report.pdf

Counting on … 150

24th September 2025

Doughnut economics refutes the mainstream theory that if the wealth of an economy increases, that that wealth will not just reward the rich but will trickle down and benefit the poorest too.

One flaw in this trickle down argument is that if you are poor is that you often pay more pro-rata than someone who is wealthy. A rich person who owns a house has both somewhere to live rent free and the means for raising extra money to invest in money making or money saving schemes and products (eg a rich person can afford the cost of a heat pump that will longterm save money). A poor person will not be able to afford to buy a house and instead will be forced to rent so each month income will be going out of their pockets and into the pockets of someone rich enough to own a buy to let property.

This flow of income away from the poor and to the rich (a trickle up effect) has been documented both nationally and globally. This is something Oxfam reports on annually.

“In 2024, the number of billionaires rose to 2,769, up from 2,565 in 2023. Their combined wealth surged from $13 trillion to $15 trillion in just 12 months. This is the second-largest annual increase in billionaire wealth since records began. The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day and even if they lost 99 per cent of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires.

“UK billionaires saw their collective wealth increase last year by £35 million a day to £182 billion …. Four new billionaires were created last year, taking the current total to 57.

“Meanwhile, according to the World Bank, the number of people still living in poverty – around 3.5 billion – has barely changed since 1990.“ (1)

The poverty line in the UK is determined as households whose income is under 60% of the median household income after housing costs for that year. (2) The Joseph Rowntree Report for 2025 reported that 2 in every 10 adults are in poverty in the UK, with about 3 in every 10 children being in poverty. Further the poorest families – those living in very deep poverty – had an average income that was 57% below the poverty line, with this gap increasing by almost two-thirds over the past 25 years. (3)

For further information read more from Oxfam’s report – https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621668/bp-takers-not-makers-200125-summ-en.pdf;jsessionid=1D0798BB3DCCC8B2A556159969CB2CD3?sequence=1

Counting on … 151

25th September 2025

One way of redressing the wealth and income imbalance would be via wealth taxes. In July of this year, 30 economists, the Patriotic Millionaires, the Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, and others called for a UK wealth tax and other reforms. (1) The proposed reforms would not only begin to rebalance wealth inequalities, but would provide useful revenue for funding those things that benefit society – schools, healthcare, a just transition to renewable energy etc

Apply a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million, raising up to £24 billion a year.
Reform capital gains tax to raise £14 billion a year.
Apply National Insurance to investment income, raising up to £10.2 billion a year.
Close inheritance tax loopholes to raise £1.4 billion a year.
Close the loopholes in the new non-dom scheme to raise up to £1 billion.
Introduce a 4% tax on share buybacks, raising approximately £2 billion a year. (2)

Altogether this totals over £52 billion a year.