Introducing the Marketplace Wealth and Poverty Desk | Marketplace from American Public Media
Marketplace from APM is introducing the Wealth and Poverty Desk to highlight stories about the concentration of wealth in the United States and the widening gap between those who have that wealth and the rest of us.
The Marketplace Morning Report ran a story on February 27th that tried to explain wealth. Thomas Shapiro of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis explains in the report that wealth is surplus security. According to the story one in four Americans do not have surplus security.
Does this matter?
Late last year Pro Publica reported the gap between richest and poorest is far greater than it used to be. In the Fall of 2011, Max Fisher of the Atlantic reported that the United States ranks among the worst in the world when it comes to income inequality. We're right there with Cameroon, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Ecuador, Mexico, Côte d'Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Nepal and, Serbia. Some of these countries are embroiled in destabilizing conflicts. The wide gap between rich and poor is a source for political instability.
The focus on accumulating wealth runs deep. Yesterday there were two reports in the Hartford Courant about greed and where it leads. In one story a Youth Leader at the Boys and Girls Clubs admitted stealing $470k from the Waterbury club. In the other, a former CEO of Latex International made a guilty plea to stealing $1.7 million from his company to support his lifestyle. That company's HR Director plead guilty back in December of stealing the same amount. There was also a report on how vandals are cashing in by stealing copper and brass.
A Final Thought
How much would it cost to change things? More than billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. It is estimated that it would cost about 20 billion dollars to provide food, basic health and nutrition for those who are going without. In 2002 Americans spend $20 billion a year on frozen desserts.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/ice-cream2.htm
The focus on accumulating wealth runs deep. Yesterday there were two reports in the Hartford Courant about greed and where it leads. In one story a Youth Leader at the Boys and Girls Clubs admitted stealing $470k from the Waterbury club. In the other, a former CEO of Latex International made a guilty plea to stealing $1.7 million from his company to support his lifestyle. That company's HR Director plead guilty back in December of stealing the same amount. There was also a report on how vandals are cashing in by stealing copper and brass.
A Final Thought
How much would it cost to change things? More than billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. It is estimated that it would cost about 20 billion dollars to provide food, basic health and nutrition for those who are going without. In 2002 Americans spend $20 billion a year on frozen desserts.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/ice-cream2.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment