Equitable distribution of wealth

Mohammed Abdul Jabbar Carp




The ideas of this article are based on a vision that the country's money and wealth belong to its own people. The Constitution approved this for oil and gas in Article (111), which says: "Oil and gas is the property of all the Iraqi people in all regions and provinces."



It is the duty of the state, among other things, to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth in society, and this is achieved through two basic mechanisms: work and need. On the basis of the work done by the citizen, he gets his share of public money. Therefore, the State strives to ensure that its employees or in the private sector receive fair, equitable and decent wages.
 
It is this that called me to make great efforts to improve the conditions of workers in the Iraqi media network by increasing their salaries, and the same thing I did with artists and others in the many dramas produced by the network when I was president. Some have criticized me for the comfortable wages we paid to artists. My answer was that these are Iraqi citizens and this is one way to get a decent share of the wealth of their country through the art work they do for the network.

This is for those who are able to work, but for those who are unable for various reasons, they get their share of their country's wealth through the social protection network or social security.

The state should also address the situation of those suffering "natural inequality." They are suffering from poverty and destitution for reasons beyond their means completely, while others enjoy the joys of life for reasons beyond their direct efforts. The Koran showed how to address this situation through the principle: "Those who have in their money a known right of the liquid and deprived."


The second mechanism is to determine the share of the citizen of the public wealth, in light of the actual need to enjoy a decent life. A decent life may be a relative term that varies from one society to another, but in the present era, the outline or minimum has become known and shared.

The need may arise because of the inability of the citizen to work at all, or because of his insufficient work to meet the needs of goods and services required by a minimum of decent life. In this case, the society, directly or through the state, to fill the needy needy, not out of charity and security, but out of the right of social solidarity.

The state can devise various ways to help those in need. One of these methods is easy lending to these citizens. The needy citizen expects to receive a small loan from the state on concessional terms and nominal interest. This is the case in many countries.

These days, government banks are announcing small loans to citizens working in the public sector and nationalizing their salaries in the banks that provide the loan. But I noticed that these banks carry a small loan with an interest rate of 40%, under the pretext of easy repayment on a monthly basis. Anyone who borrows 10 million dinars, for example, to buy a taxi to work on, will pay the state about 14 million dinars.

This is undoubtedly a large sum and a heavy burden on a low-income citizen. The state would not have made such a move. This is "a door in which he has mercy and his appearance by His torment." I know many of the citizens who reluctantly accepted this heavy load because their need for little money is great, and the state simply and clearly exploit this need obscene, and contrary to the right of the public money when it needs it.

* The opinions expressed in the article may not necessarily reflect those of Al-Nabaa Informatics Network.

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