- Few of us are positive about capitalism’s power to improve either our, or the next generation’s lives. Just one in five of us on both sides of the Atlantic see a better future for our children. And we are only marginally more hopeful that in the rest of the world the next generation will experience improvements. That’s despite the evidence of thirty plus years that life is getting better for the vast majority of the world’s citizens.
- Two thirds of Britons believe the poor get poorer and the rich get richer in capitalist economies. Nearly as many Americans agree.
- When it comes to our views of the behaviour of big business, a gap emerges between Britons and Americans – though both are damning in their verdict. Three quarters of Britons believe the biggest businesses in the world have dodged taxes, damaged the environment or bought special favours from politicians. Six in ten Americans share this view.
- But it’s not all doom and gloom for capitalism. Seven in ten of us, in both Britain and America, believe successful business people and inventors are as important to society as doctors, teachers and charity workers.
Read the other three key findings in this series:
- Footballers seen as undeserving of their wealth; inventors as deserving;
- Tech giants seen as more good than bad (especially in USA);
- Massive majorities say culprits of 2008 crash have gone unpunished
1,859 American adults and 1,718 Britons were polled by YouGov for UnHerd.com, beginning 17 July 2017.
We published the results of the survey’s findings on the news industry last week.
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