Over 3 billion live on less than $2

[Nausinous]

I heard about a interesting statistic today, apparently more than 3 billion people (Half of the world's population) live on less than $2 a day.

A frequently disputed statistic, but wrongly so, since it originates from surveys conducted in ordinary households and taking into account the monetary disparities between countries. Financial poverty is only one dimension of the reality experienced today by one out of two human beings. When people are poor, they are just as deprived of resources and prospects as they are of money. This figure is quite simply unacceptable in a world which has increased the productions of goods and services by 7 since 1950. In the era of the internet and global communication, 80% of the world's wealth is owned by 15% of the inhabitants of the richest countries.

How do you feel about this and do you think anything can be done?

[Mad Tony]

While it is a sad fact, I don't think there's anything that can be done about it. The West gives untold amounts of money to poverty stricken nations (through both charities and government money) and yet the poverty still continues. I don't know why this is, but I think it's just a sad fact of life that there will always be a lot of people in poverty around the world.

[Eddie Haskell]

Having been around the world and actually seen the poorest of the poor up close and personal I can tell you that it is truly the saddest by-product of our present civilization. Although many people have been starving and deprived since time immemorial, we have the capability to end it now if we so chose to. But our present systems prevent this from happening for many reasons, and I can foresee no change until humanity wakes up and truly becomes the evolved species we claim to be.

[Mad Tony]

Originally Posted by Eddie Haskell

Having been around the world and actually seen the poorest of the poor up close and personal I can tell you that it is truly the saddest by-product of our present civilization. Although many people have been starving and deprived since time immemorial, we have the capability to end it now if we so chose to. But our present systems prevent this from happening for many reasons, and I can foresee no change until humanity wakes up and truly becomes the evolved species we claim to be.

What do you think can be done then?

[Eddie Haskell]

Now? Nothing, we are far too greedy and self-serving to give up anything more than we are presently providing. Simply put, it is the separating aspects of nations, borders, boundaries...the us vs them and the have's and have-not mentality that must be eliminated in order for the scourge of inequality to vanish. Greed, this is the enemy that must be defeated.

I know a world government sounds scary and a bit Sci-Fi to some, but imagine a world with one labor law, one monetary system... the same services and protections for all humans on this globe. The exploitation of individuals based on where they live will be no more, and a level playing field will be established across the planet. It's a pipe dream to be sure, and there are certainly other ways and methods to achieve a similar effect, but without a forced mandate to do so human nature will be there to throw its monkey wrench into the mix. Just like the health care debate here in the US...

[Mad Tony]

Originally Posted by Eddie Haskell

I know a world government sounds scary and a bit Sci-Fi to some, but imagine a world with one labor law, one monetary system... the same services and protections for all humans on this globe. The exploitation of individuals based on where they live will be no more, and a level playing field will be established across the planet. It's a pipe dream to be sure, and there are certainly other ways and methods to achieve a similar effect, but without a forced mandate to do so human nature will be there to throw its monkey wrench into the mix. Just like the health care debate here in the US...

You see I don't agree with that at all. It would involve forcibly redistributing wealth.

[Draco]

As long as money exists and possessions aren't universally available, there will be poor and rich people.

[interstellardave]

Originally Posted by Mad Tony

You see I don't agree with that at all. It would involve forcibly redistributing wealth.

While I don't agree that forcibly redistributing wealth from the wealthy to the poor is any real answer... I also know that wealth has always been redistributed from the poor to the rich, and that isn't right either. In situations where that is occurring it should be stopped immediately.

This is a real tricky issue, though, because it often is not solvable unless the poor population is physically moved from the land they occupy. Barren lands do not promote a decent standard of living... but their governments (or surrounding governments) have to facilitate such emigration, rather than stand in the way of it.

[andromeda_eats]

Originally Posted by Draco

As long as money exists and possessions aren't universally available, there will be poor and rich people.

So your solution is Marxism

[Uzi master]

Originally Posted by Draco

As long as money exists and possessions aren't universally available, there will be poor and rich people.

there are rich people with billions of dollars they are never going to spend, why not go build communities and factories create jobs? seriously though, incredibly rich people SHOULD basscily throw mony away at stuff that won't directly affect them, bill gates has like 90 billion, though he does donate he could open things up in other countries.