Madam, – Jim O’Leary’s (Business This Week, November 20th) questioning of the notion of fairness and how far it should influence fiscal policy raises challenging issues, especially as to whether transfer payments should be cut in a time of financial crisis.
However, no matter what Harvard economists may surmise, any method of organising the economy must serve the best interests of all people, but especially those who, for one reason or another, are struggling to maintain a decent and humane standard of living, especially for their children.
If transfer payments, in philosophical terms known as distributive justice, are necessary to protect vulnerable citizens from falling into further poverty and causing further fragmentation of our society into one of flagrant injustice, then no economic argument or Harvard analyses can justify cutting these payments. – Yours, etc,