Poverty in Abundance

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis Monday January 22, 2007 23:03 by Cian P - SY & SP info at socialistparty dot net Across the island 086-8064801

Article will be in new edition of the Socialist

“A rising tide lifts all boats” – and drowns those of us who can’t afford one! That seems to be the finding of a number of recent reports on poverty and inequality, as the world becomes more unequal than ever.

Rich Get Rich - Poor Get Poorer

With a billion people earning less than $1 dollar a day it’s no surprise that the total wealth of 50% of the world’s adult population amounts to only 1.1% of the world’s wealth. At the same time the richest 500 bosses own 1.7% of it!

So whilst 1 billion people go without clean water, the super rich buy Cartier designer deodorants at $30,000 a pop. Apparently even they can’t stand the stench of their greed!

What makes these statistics more amazing is that they come from reports controlled by the super rich themselves – none other than Forbes magazine and the UN.

Inequality is at such a level that the super rich can no longer close there eyes to it. Instead now they peddle the idea that “going in the right direction” - just too slowly.

In fact, capitalism (even at time of economic growth) is causing increased inequality and poverty. For example, wages in Bangladesh have halved (in real terms) in the last 10 years

But don’t be fooled – this is neither natural nor inevitable. The resources and technology are there to meet the needs of everyone but in the hands of the super rich these will only be used to maximise profits at our expense.

Only by wiping out capitalism can we wipe out poverty.

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