“The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine and found people simple enough to believe him was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars, murders, what miseries and horrors would the human race have been spared, had someone pulled up the stakes or filled in the ditch and cried out to his fellow men: "Do not listen to this imposter. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all and the earth to no one!”
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and The Discourses
Global inequality: Food for thought
The rise of the Occupy movement has brought income inequality to the forefront yet again, and though the slogan “We are the 99%” is well known by now, how many of us realise the true extent of global inequality?
· The poorest 40 percent of the world population - the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 a day - account for five percent of global income, while the richest 10 percent account for 54 percent.
· The richest 50 million people in Europe and North America have the same income as 2.7 billion poor people.
· In America today, roughly $70.6 million is spent daily on purchasing food, which is then thrown out. The amount it would cost to feed every hungry person in the world for the day? $21.3million.
Does this seem like a healthy system to you?
