from the Trinidad & Tobago Express

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In this unimaginable world of the super-rich, there is no thought about trying to close the rich-poor gap, of bringing about some form of social equity. In the USA, the gap continues to widen and the poor to suffer. In the UK, Rowling can now avoid having to look at those who eke out an existence in that country. The egalitarian goals of some of Europe's progressive states have given way to "only-the-strong-will-survive" policies. And in Third World countries, in places like Haiti, we are talking about not persistent poverty, but permanent misery.

Any wonder that social scientists are predicting a global uprising by the dispossessed long before global warming takes its toll on humanity? And lest we think we are insulated, ours is not too different a society. Nebulous talk about social equity remains talk for those who seem to have been born to "ketch-arse" until they die. What the Forbes magazine list brings home to us in a way its editors never intended is that the opulence of the few at the expense of the abject poverty of the many can lead us in only one direction. Before we know it, the wretched of the earth, like the biblical Barbarians, will be battering the fortified walls of the super-rich, and even the not-so-rich, to wreak the kind of destruction that could take us back into the Dark Age long before we see signs of the Ice Age.

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Dear Third World:

We're sorry we've stolen all your resources, and completely screwed up your environment, in our efforts to secure our standard of living.

At the time we did it, we felt it was the right thing to do, and unfortunately took no notice of the death and destruction necessary to accomplish our aim.

Now that we too are faced with diminishing resources, you'll forgive us for using our military might to squeeze what remains out of your lands.

On the bright side, because you've always lived in poverty, nothing will change for you.

Had you experienced the wealth of the militarily strong, you would now be faced with adjusting to a drastically lower standard of living.

Ask Barbara Amiel how much fun it is to pay the piper. Especially after the tune is over.

So please forgive us for making your world a living hell.

We did it with the best of ideological support.

Who knew?

Your friend,

China is still very much an agrarian economy, albeit one that is industrializing at a great rate.

As the working class of China grows, there will be more demands for things such as health care, pensions, education, etc. In fact, all those things which were demanded by the working class here.

Given the huge population of China, it'll be a while before the work force reaches the concentration necessary to become a viable political force.

However, that will happen, and we should be encouraging it.

The only fly in that ointment is that if the average Chinese lived at the same consumption levels of say the average Canadian, the world's resources wouldn't be enough to keep us in the fashion we have grown accustomed to.

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Originally posted by fuslim:
The only fly in that ointment is that if the average Chinese lived at the same consumption levels of say the average Canadian, the world's resources wouldn't be enough to keep us in the fashion we have grown accustomed to.

Oh well, that's a bridge that will have to be crossed eventually. Probably the sooner the better.

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According to David Suzuki, just in order to bring the rest of the planet up to our standard of living (and forget about sustaining that level) we'd need six more planets-full of resources.

(Now *there*'s a measuring standard for a new global recipe:

Add: six planets-full of resources and sixteen moons-full of optimism and hope (NOT the crushed variety!)

The purpose of life is simply about living it and there is a huge rationalization throughout human history that says more money and power makes life better.

What I see is that we often mistake control for power, wealth for certainty or vision.

It is human nature to hoard and protect. It is something we must transmute into conservation and planning for a green planet.

Think of Donald Trump. He is always marrying young women and having them sign prenuptual agreements just to ensure that they are not "goldigging".

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Originally posted by Dief:
It seems that capitalist countries care more, maybe because they have enough wealth to care with.

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You need to re-read your Dickens. Countries with caring societies exist because enough people pressured their governments to make them care. Unions, and others, fought long and hard for that caring. We are losing that caring in the West, because too many people are abandoning the fight. Capital and power don't go away; time is on their side.

Capitalism is absolutely the best way of creating wealth. Unfortunately, capitalism is very poor at distributing that wealth. It takes governments to force capital to spread the benefits of wealth. And those governments have to be pressured by their populace.

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What the Forbes magazine list brings home to us in a way its editors never intended is that the opulence of the few at the expense of the abject poverty of the many can lead us in only one direction. Before we know it, the wretched of the earth, like the biblical Barbarians, will be battering the fortified walls of the super-rich, and even the not-so-rich, to wreak the kind of destruction that could take us back into the Dark Age long before we see signs of the Ice Age.

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Originally posted by Dief:
My brother is just back from China. He was shocked at how little care there is for the citizens there. It seems that capitalist countries care more, maybe because they have enough wealth to care with.

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