Re: <nettime> Digital leftism in a globalised world?

[Karin Spaink <karin@spaink.net>]

On Jan 31, 2017, at 14:18 , Alexander Bard <bardissimo@gmail.com> wrote:

>   But is there somehow a widespread agreement that economic growth in
>   China and India over the last 30 years has not benefitted the masses at
>   all? That this is merely a "neo-liberal myth"? 

"Polls show that about 9 out of 10 Americans believe that global poverty
"has worsened or stayed the same. But in fact, [..] every day, an
"average of about a quarter-million people worldwide graduate from
"extreme poverty, according to World Bank figures. [..]

When I began writing about global poverty in the early 1980s, more than
40 percent of all humans were living in extreme poverty. Now fewer than
10 percent are. By 2030 it looks as if just 3 or 4 percent will be.
(Extreme poverty is defined as less than $1.90 per person per day,
adjusted for inflation.) [..]

There will, of course, be continued poverty of a less extreme kind,
smaller numbers of children will continue to die unnecessarily, and
inequality remains immense. Oxfam calculated this month that just eight
rich men own as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity. Yet global
income inequality is actually declining. While income inequality has
increased within the U.S., it has declined on a global level because
China and India have lifted hundreds of millions from poverty. [..]

Remember: The most important thing happening is not a Trump tweet.
What’s infinitely more important is that today some 18,000 children who
in the past would have died of simple diseases will survive, about
300,000 people will gain electricity and a cool 250,000 will graduate
from extreme poverty.”

Nicholas Kristof, Why 2017 May Be the Best Year Ever
NY Times Jan 21, 2017

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/opinion/sunday/why-2017-may-be-the-best-year-ever.html


- K -

-- 
People get what they get. It has nothing to do with what they deserve.
  - House, in House s05e01

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